The Israeli ongoing military operation in Gaza has unleashed an unprecedented assault on journalism, with a staggering number of media professionals losing their lives since October 7, 2023, in the war-torn country.
Several global reporting watchdogs have documented revealing that more than 200 journalists have been killed, making it the deadliest period for journalists since the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) started keeping records in 1992.
According to the CPJ data, by December 2024, at least 141 journalists and media workers were killed, among them 133 were Palestinians, 6 Lebanese and 2 Israelis.
However, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate record is even higher, asserting that more than 150 journalists have been killed, counting more than 10 per cent of all the journalists in the Gaza Strip.
The attacks on journalists have been reportedly organized and frequent with reporters accusing the Israeli army of deliberately attacking Palestinian and Lebanese journalists.
The CPJ revealed that more journalists were killed in the first three months of the war than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year.
Several media organisations including, the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association have strongly condemned these killings, emphasizing that targeting journalists represents a stark violation of press freedom and international human rights law.
The International Federation has demanded Israel to abide by laws and protect journalists.
In addition to death tolls, the Israeli airstrikes have damaged or destroyed media infrastructure with an estimated 48 facilities in Gaza.
Journalists working in the war-torn region face extraordinary risks, including bombings, widespread famine, displacement, and complete or partial destruction of 80 percent of the buildings in Gaza.
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