Forty journalists and media workers covering Israel’s war in Gaza have been killed since the war began October 7. That is already more journalists killed than in any other war in the last 30 years, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The overwhelming majority—35—have been Palestinian. All have been killed by Israeli bombs, missiles or bullets. Another eight journalists have been reported injured, three are reported missing, and nine are reported arrested. Family members of some Palestinian journalists have also been killed in Israel’s mass bombings. 

It is not known if these journalists or their families were deliberately targeted by Israel or if they were “collateral damage” in Israel’s war.  

Journalists covering wars and armed conflicts are supposed to be protected as civilians under international law. But Israel has over the years assassinated journalists and lied about it. This was the case with the 2022 murder of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by the Israeli military. It was later proven that she was killed by a bullet from an Israeli sniper. 

This year the Committee to Protect Journalists published “Deadly Pattern,” a report on the Israeli military’s killings of journalists since 2001. According to one of the Committee’s leaders, “Since 2001, CPJ has documented at least 20 journalist killings by the IDF. The vast majority—18—were Palestinian; two were European foreign correspondents; there were no Israelis. No one has ever been charged or held accountable for these deaths.”

In their current war on Gaza, Israel has spread lies about journalists and media outlets, claiming that they’re not reporters but active participants in the conflict. This endangers journalists, potentially making them targets. For example, a pro-Israeli group recently claimed that the New York Times and the Associated Press were working with freelance journalists who were actually Hamas propagandists. The Israeli government picked up on these charges and accused freelance photographers working with several major news organizations of being “accomplices” in the killing and abductions of Israeli soldiers and civilians by Hamas. Both the New York Times and the Associated Press said these charges were baseless and denounced them. 

And the Israeli military has impeded news coverage and threatened journalists by warning Reuters and Agence France-Presse that it could not guarantee the safety of reporters in Gaza. 

Recently, media workers on the West Bank protested the killing of their colleagues. Nasser Abu Bakr, head of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, told Democracy Now!:

More than 60 media organizations were destroyed. Dozens of journalists’ families were killed. Dozens of houses that belonged to journalists were bombed. More than 22 broadcasting channels in the Gaza Strip stopped working completely. This is in addition to the greater crime, which is the killing of journalists themselves. More than 40 journalists and workers in media institutions were killed in Israeli bombardment.

One Palestinian journalist, Salman Al-Bashir, was reporting outside a hospital in Gaza on live TV when he saw a colleague being carried to the morgue. He stripped off his helmet and protective vest and declared to the camera:

Helmets, they're just emblems that we wear. They don't keep us safe at all. They do not keep us safe. We're victims live on air. We're just waiting our turn, one after the other. Our colleague Mohammed Abu Hatab was here just 30 minutes ago. He's been killed, along with his wife, his son, and his brother.

Sources:

*Israel-Hamas war takes deadly toll on journalists covering the conflict, PBS NewsHour, November 10 

*The war has led to the deadliest month for journalists in at least three decades, New York Times, November 10

*Israel Accuses Freelance Photographers of Advance Knowledge of Oct. 7 Attack, New York Times, November 9

*Palestinian Journalists Condemn Deadly Israeli Attacks on Colleagues, Democracy Now!, November 9