At least 97 journalists killed in Israel-Hamas War: CPJ report News
龘雷, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
At least 97 journalists killed in Israel-Hamas War: CPJ report

At least 97 journalists and media works have been killed in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a preliminary count of media workers released Saturday. This conflict has proven to be the deadliest for media workers since CPJ began systematically documenting such tragedies in 1992.

According to CPJ, working in Gaza has posed significant dangers for journalists covering the Israeli ground offensive. They encounter risks such as devastating airstrikes, disruptions of communication channels, shortages of supplies, and frequent power outages. As of May 11, CPJ data confirms that 97 journalists and media workers have been killed: 92 Palestinians, 2 Israelis, and 3 Lebanese. Additionally, 16 journalists were injured, 4 were missing, and 25 were detained. CPJ’s research also uncovered numerous incidents of media workers being targeted while performing their duties in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. These incidents include arrests, assaults, threats, cyberattacks, and instances of censorship.

CPJ’s preliminary report provides sobering details about the identities, affiliations, and circumstances of journalists and media workers killed in connection with their work amid the raging hostilities. The cases include Palestinian freelance photographer Mohamed El-Reefi, who died from injuries sustained from Israeli gunfire in March 2024, and Al-Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa, who was killed by a drone strike in December 2023 while covering airstrikes that hit a UN school sheltering displaced civilians. Several journalists died alongside family members when their homes were destroyed by airstrikes, such as Duaa Jabbour of Eyes Media Network, who perished with her husband and children in December 2023. The report also documents the deaths of media workers, such as Ibrahim Marzouq of Palestine TV, who chose not to evacuate Gaza. While the investigation continues, CPJ’s initial findings underscore the devastating toll on media workers in this conflict.

Addressing the matter, CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna stated the following:

Since the Israel-Gaza war began, journalists have been paying the highest price—their lives—to defend our right to the truth. Each time a journalist dies or is injured, we lose a fragment of that truth. Journalists are civilians protected by international humanitarian law in times of conflict. Those responsible for their deaths face dual trials: one under international law and another before history’s unforgiving gaze.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has also reported on the dangerous situation for journalists covering the Israel-Gaza war. According to RSF, Palestine has become one of the most dangerous places in the world for media professionals, with more than 100 Palestinian reporters killed by the Israeli army since October 7. RSF notes a lack of accountability for these journalist deaths, describing them as unpunished crimes where impunity is the norm. This raises concerns given that Israel is a party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, a key foundation of international humanitarian law designed to protect civilians and non-combatants during armed conflict. Specifically, customary international humanitarian law (Rule 34) provides that civilian journalists on professional assignment in war zones must be respected and protected unless they are directly participating in hostilities.

Moreover, in addition to the acts of aggression against journalists covering the Israel-Gaza war, there is the repression they face as victims. On May 5, 2024, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his cabinet had unanimously decided to shut down Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel, made possible by a law that gives the government the authority to close foreign news outlets deemed a threat to national security.

The updated count of journalist casualties came on the second anniversary of the death of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist who was killed by Israeli forces.

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