The deadliest days for journalists in war zones
UNITED NATIONS (IPS)—The seven-month-long war in Gaza is perhaps the only military conflict in contemporary history that has claimed the lives of over 100 journalists, including victims of targeted killings.
As of April 26, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), preliminary investigations have shown at least 97 journalists and media workers were among the more than 35,000 killed since the war began on October 7—with more than 34,000 Palestinian deaths in Gaza and the West Bank and 1,200 deaths in Israel.
And, according to a count by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF), at least 103 journalists have been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza in the past five months, “one of the deadliest ever wars for the media.”
Christophe Deloire RSF secretarygeneral, said these 103 journalists are not numbers, they are 103 voices that Israel has silenced, 103 fewer witnesses of the catastrophe unfolding in Palestine, 103 lives extinguished”.
If the numbers show anything, it is that since 7 October, “no place in Gaza is safe, no journalist in Gaza is spared, and the massacre has not stopped. We reiterate our urgent appeal to protect journalists in Gaza”, he added.
Since the start of the Ukraine war in February 2022, RSF said, Russian forces have reportedly
killed 11 journalists and wounded at least 35; 12 others were detained, and two journalists are currently missing, while 233 media outlets were ordered to close down.
CPJ said it is investigating all reports of journalists and media workers killed, injured, or missing in the war, “which has led to the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.”
Dr. Simon Adams, President of the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT), which works with torture survivors and human rights defenders around the world, told IPS the more egregious the atrocity, the greater the necessity to bury the truth under the rubble of airstrikes or hide it away in a dark prison.
Israel is targeting journalists because it fears their ability to
expose the horrors unfolding in Gaza, he said.
“For far too long Israel has been able to operate with impunity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and this has included occasionally killing reporters, like the PalestinianAmerican journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, in 2022”.
But since October 7, Dr. Adams pointed out, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have elevated this to a whole new level: routinely bombing, shooting or arresting journalists just for reporting from the frontlines and bearing witness to war crimes.
He said far too many of these deaths have resulted from precision airstrikes on reporters who are clearly identified as such.
“With almost 100 journalists and media workers now dead, to claim these deaths are accidental is not only incredulous, it is insulting to the memory of professionals who lived their lives in service of truth and accuracy,” said Dr. Adams whose organisation has a number of refugee clients who are former journalists and have been arrested and persecuted in their home countries.
These cases, he said, should all be reported to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and those responsible should be held accountable. Being a journalist is not a crime, but systematically killing them is.
He added: “World Press Freedom Day (May 3) should have been celebrated with a black armband this year.”
Dr Alon Ben-Meir, a retired professor of international relations, most
recently at the Centre for Global Affairs at New York University, told IPS the random imprisonment of journalists is rampant in many countries.
More than 800 journalists have been incarcerated, and nearly 550 marked the beginning of 2024 from prison; hundreds have been killed, and countless others are harassed to prevent them from decimating information deemed unfavorable to their respective governments.
More than half of these journalists are detained in just four countries— China, Myanmar, Belarus, and Vietnam, he pointed out.
Others do not lag much behind, including Turkey, Russia, China, Afghanistan, and Mexico, which is one of the deadliest countries for journalists. In this regard, it is also important to point out the danger and death that journalists are facing in another war zone in Ukraine, he said.
CPJ Programme Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna said 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 who are 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.”
Expressing deep concern last month, a group of UN experts affiliated to the Human Rights Council highlighted the alarming toll on journalists and media workers in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in Gaza.
“We are alarmed at the extraordinarily high numbers of journalists and media workers who have been killed, attacked, injured and detained in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in Gaza, in recent months blatantly disregarding international law,” the experts said.
They said they noted “disturbing reports” of attacks against media workers despite being clearly identifiable in jackets, helmets and vehicles marked “press”, seemingly indicating a “deliberate strategy” by Israeli forces to obstruct and silence critical reporting.
By their count, 122 journalists and media workers have lost their lives in the Gaza Strip, with many others sustaining injuries, since October 7.
Four Israeli journalists were killed by Hamas on 7 October, when fighters from the group which controls Gaza and other Palestinian militants, attacked Israeli communities in southern Israel.
“We condemn all killings, threats and attacks on journalists and call on all parties to the conflict to protect them,” they said.
Dozens of Palestinian journalists have also been detained by Israeli forces in both Gaza and the West Bank where harassment, intimidation and attacks on journalists have increased since the Hamas terror attacks.
According to the Paris-based UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, more than 1,600 journalists have been killed since 1993. Other threats against journalists, online and offline, continue to grow, especially in non-conflict zones.
It is at a record high, while online violence—particularly against women journalists—and harassment spur on self-censorship and, in some cases, physical attacks.
Journalists have also increasingly been attacked while covering protests, by various actors, including both security forces and protest participants.
Numerous reports and studies confirm that threats inordinately affect women journalists and those who represent minority groups, said UNESCO.