Israel’s army created a clandestine “Legitimization Cell” after the 7 October attack to collect and selectively declassify Gaza intelligence aimed at improving the country’s international image, according to a 14 August investigation by +972 Magazine that cites three current and former Israeli intelligence officers. The unit’s brief extended beyond traditional intelligence work, focusing on material that could depict Hamas fighters operating from civilian sites and, crucially, on evidence—often tenuous—linking Gaza-based journalists to Hamas. The sources said the goal was to blunt foreign criticism of civilian casualties and maintain weapons supplies from allies, especially the United States. One source described cases in which intelligence was misrepresented to portray reporters as militants. The practice became prominent after the army admitted targeting Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif in an 10 August airstrike; the Committee to Protect Journalists lists him among 186 media workers killed in Gaza since last October. Information gathered by the Legitimization Cell was routinely shared with U.S. counterparts, the sources said, and the unit was mobilised whenever global media scrutiny intensified—for example, following the October 2023 blast at Gaza’s Al-Ahli Hospital. The Israel Defense Forces told +972 that it releases intelligence only in line with international law and denies intentionally harming journalists.