The news network said in a statement Thursday that their working relationship with the freelancer began after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel — attacks that the organization maintained it "had no prior knowledge of."
"We had no prior knowledge of the Oct. 7 attacks. Hassan Eslaiah, a freelance journalist who has worked with a number of international and Israeli outlets, was not working for the network on Oct. 7. As of today, we have severed all ties with him," the statement read.
The decision came following a report from the pro-Israel watchdog group Honest Reporting that named several Gaza-based photojournalists working for major news media companies including CNN, The New York Times, the Associated Press and Reuters and raised "ethical questions" regarding their proximity and relation to Hamas.
Of Eslaiah, Honest Reporting wrote that he "crossed into Israel, took photos of a burning Israeli tank and then captured infiltrators entering Kibbutz Kfar Azza." The group also said that it "obtained screenshots of Eslaiah’s now-removed tweets on X in which he documented himself standing in front of the Israeli tank. He did not wear a press vest or a helmet, and the Arabic caption of his tweet read: ’Live from inside the Gaza Strip settlements.’"