Statement from Motaz Azaiza, Sept 20th 2026. Over the past few days, I have been attacked online for words of mine from a podcast discussion that have been shamefully and dishonestly distorted, mistranslated, and taken out of context by Israel and the supporters of Israel's occupation. I never said the journalists in a Gaza WhatsApp group were affiliated with Hamas. I never said Hamas controlled Gaza's journalists, directed their work, or that being in that group meant belonging to Hamas. Any claim otherwise is false. The WhatsApp group I mentioned was simply a group where representatives of the Hamas government shared updates about the situation in Gaza. Many journalists participated in it, including me, because receiving updates from the government was part of our work - as it is for journalists across the world. I have criticized Hamas many times. Hamas is not only a resistance faction in Gaza; it is also the governing authority, and as a Palestinian born and raised Gaza, I have every right to criticize those who governed me. But that criticism must never be twisted into something it is not. When members of my family were killed, when my friends were killed, when I was threatened and forced to move under constant danger, it was Israel doing the killing. My criticism of the Hamas government does not erase what Israel has done to my people, and it does not give anyone the right to use my words to serve the narrative of the Israeli occupation. As for the video I recorded of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas, I filmed it inside Gaza while doing my job as a photojournalist. I chose not to publish it because I feared that revealing the location could put Palestinian civilians in the area at risk. Around twenty minutes later, the site was struck by Israeli warplanes, killing the hostages along with Hamas gunmen who were there. To be clear: I did not participate in October 7. I was not part of it in any way. I was in Gaza doing my job: documenting what was happening in front of me. I will not allow my criticism of a Palestinian governing authority to be turned into propaganda for the occupation. Criticizing those who govern us is our right. Opposing occupation is our right. One does not cancel the other. And a reminder once again: the mass death and destruction in Gaza that I documented on camera, and relayed to the world, was done not by Hamas but by Israel. – at New York, NY