War On Gaza - Deadliest Ever Conflict For Journalists: Reports
Gaza, Palestine: Since Israel started attacking Gaza from 7 October 2023, the war has become the worst ever conflict for journalists. At least 232 journalists were killed so far at an average of 13 per week, according to a new report titled News Graveyards : How Dangers to War Reporters Endanger the World published by Brown University’s Costs of War project. The report states that the Palestinian war had killed more journalists than the US Civil War, first and second world wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the wars in Yugoslavia, and war in Afghanistan, combined.
Earlier, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reached similar conclusion in their press release on journalists killed in the year 2024. It says that at least 124 journalists were killed from different countries last year, making it deadliest year for journalists since CPJ started recording the data three decades ago. Notably they added that Israel is responsible for 70 percent of this account.
In the latest attack on April 7, Hilmi al-Faqaawi, a reporter for Palestine Today, was burned to death when Israeli forces bombed a tent where journalists were sleeping. Addressing the incident, the Israeli army stated on X (formerly Twitter) that the strike was targeting another journalist, Hassan Abdel Fattah, who was seriously wounded in the attack. The army alleged that Fattah was a member of Hamas.
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Just a week earlier, two other journalists—Palestine Today’s Mohammad Mansour and Al Jazeera’s Hossam Shabat—were also killed after Israel resumed military operations following the collapse of a fragile two-month ceasefire. The Israeli military similarly accused Shabat of being a Hamas operative, as it has done with many other slain journalists.
However CPJ has ruled out such accusations as they told Israel to stop these unproven claims and demanded immediate and independent international involvement to investigate it.
The report was citing another prominent organization, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) who claimed that Israel is deliberately targeting the journalists with impunity, urging the international community to pressure the Israeli government to put an end on this. RSF has documented 35 cases where Israel has intentionally targeted journalists because of the reporting in the conflict zone.
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Meanwhile, Israel military had repeatedly ruled out the claims of such targeted killing of journalists even though the Defence Ministry of the state didn’t respond to any of the accusations.
Above all, Israel has denied the access for foreign correspondents to enter Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving the Palestinian to take up the role themselves. Very few were allowed from outside as embedded journalists only to travel with the Israel military. The Cost of War project report addresses this dilemma stating that Israel has barred foreign correspondents from Gaza while killing local reporters in record numbers without any repercussions.
Despite the organizations like RSF and CPJ and journalists all over the world urging the Israel government for the access of foreign correspondents, the restriction continues justified by the security issues which in turn make the local reporters in trouble as they lost their lives accused of secret operatives or agents.
(This story is part of a Timeline internship project)
