CNN and the Associated Press (AP) have stopped working with photographer Hassan Eslaya, who covered the Palestinian Hamas attack on Israel, after reports that he was among the attackers when the operation began, the network and agency said.
⠀
Earlier, the head of the Israeli government press office (GPO), Nissan Chen, sent a letter to the heads of the regional bureaus of the Associated Press, Reuters, CNN and the New York Times demanding clarification due to the fact that their photographers were near Hamas during the attack on Israel on October 7 and filmed the events taking place. The GPO’s reaction came in response to the publication by the non-governmental organization Honest Reporting of information about the involvement of Hamas photographers in the Hamas attack on Israel, who filmed the infiltration of militants into Israel and the killing of civilians.
⠀
“We are no longer working with Hassan Eslaya, who freelanced from time to time for the AP and other international news organizations in the Gaza Strip,” the Associated Press said in a statement.
⠀
CNN also issued a statement emphasizing that Eslaya was not working for their network on the day of the attack, and that the network has now severed all ties with him.
⠀
Both media outlets claim they had no advance knowledge of the October 7 attack. CNN and the Associated Press emphasize that the photographic materials appeared in their possession more than an hour after the start of the Hamas operation, and they did not have reporters on the border with Gaza.
