A good example of wartime misinformation: a Nov 2025 al-Jazeera English article about Israa al-Areer, a Gazan freelance journalist, and her search for her missing husband Yasser al-Tawil and brother Diaa al-Areer fails to mention both were Hamas militants killed on October 7. 🧵
al-Jazeera and al-Areer tell one story in English, but open-source documentation and an article by the Felesteen Arabic-language outlet (below), which also interviewed al-Areer only 3 days after the October 7 attack tells a very different one. Below, a side-by-side comparison of several key points, with all links at the end of the thread.
To al-Jazeera (in English. L), al-Areer says that her husband, Yasser Zuhair Ahmed al-Tawil (ID#: 803617968, age 30) typically spent Friday nights with friends and was out late. But to Felesteen (in Arabic, R), who identified al-Tawil as a Qassam Brigades fighter, al-Areer describes al-Tawil as dressing in his military uniform and departing for al-Ribat, which the article translates as vigil/guard duty (see title in previous post).
al-Areer tells al-Jazeera (L) that her husband was part of a group of “curious citizens” who went to the border area to see what was going on after the 10/7 attack began. But to Felesteen (R), she speaks of her husband’s longtime participation in the “ranks of the resistance” and his desire to join the attack.
al-Areer also tells al-Jazeera (in English) that she was told by her family that her brother Diaa Samir al-Areer had gone missing on October 7, and describes al-Tawil as a civilian.
A look at open-source evidence makes it clear that both Yasser al-Tawil and Diaa al-Areer were Hamas fighters killed while invading Israel on October 7. Multiple obituaries of al-Tawil depict him as a “mujahid” or "shahid Qassami" and photos show him in Hamas military uniform and armed. al-Areer herself eulogized al-Tawil using a well-known reference for militants, “advancing not retreating”, and saying he died "immersed in the enemies of God" on October 8, 2023.
The Felesteen article states that al-Tawil was a freelance photographer who had participated in the 2018-2019 Great March of Return, a months-long series of violent protests along the Gaza border. al-Tawil was shot in the chest by Israeli forces in October 2018 during these protests, an event the International Federation of Journalists condemned. However, al-Tawil is not listed by the IFJ or other major trackers as a journalist/media worker killed in Gaza.
Diaa al-Areer (not yet listed by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry but broadly mourned by family and friends), meanwhile, has been identified by a Hamas-affiliated Telegram channel providing obituaries for militants from Gaza's Shujaiyya neighborhood and as a “lion of the crossing” (a common reference to the October 7 attack) by a friend eulogizing him.
In other words, al-Areer says one thing in English when she describes her husband to al-Jazeera as a civilian who wandered across the border on October 7, and an entirely different thing in Arabic to Felesteen that is backed up by available open-source evidence.
In the English version, al-Areer’s husband and brother are civilians missing since October 7, and she is searching for their bodies. But in the Arabic version, relying on al-Areer’s interview right after October 7 and open-source evidence, both her husband and brother were Hamas militants killed while participating in the October 7 attack against Israel and mourned as such.
Background research by al-Jazeera, even Googling Yasser al-Tawil’s name, would have quickly shown that the version of events al-Areer presented in English was inaccurate. Yet nearly all readers would have no way of knowing that, especially after this story was filtered onto social media or rerun by other outlets.
When news organizations either fail to verify stories or simply lie, readers have very little chance of getting the truth. It’s not clear which is going on here. The fact that al-Areer herself is a journalist is another layer to the problem: the subject of the piece, a journalist, is lying, while the reporter is either going along with the lie or not checking the details.
The truth matters. al-Areer’s pain and grief is real. But for the reader to get a clear picture of events, they should know that the husband and brother she mourns were terrorists killed while conducting a massive attack on Israeli civilians. Those reading this story in al-Jazeera and in English would just never know it.
al-Jazeera story (Nov 6, 2025 - English): aljazeera.com/features/2025/…
Archive link (archived Mar 26, 2026): web.archive.org/web/2026032603…
Felesteen story (Oct 10, 2023 - Arabic): felesteen.news/post/147934/%D…
Archive link (archived Mar 26, 2026): web.archive.org/web/2026032603…
Other links:
info.wafa.ps/pages/details/…
ifj.org/media-centre/n…
facebook.com/watch/?v=18171…
t.me/kkhitabm/2414
t.me/AMJAD_SHU/26420
t.me/zkdhc/5283
t.me/alshujaeia/38
facebook.com/esraa.areer23/…
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