Group says conflict killing journalists at unprecedented rate

BRUSSELS — With a journalist or media worker killed every day on average in the Israel-Hamas war, the head of the global organization representing the profession said Monday it has become a conflict beyond compare.

About 60 have been killed since the Oct. 7 start of the war, already close to the same number of journalists killed during the entire Vietnam War half a century ago. Other brutal wars in the Middle East have not come close to the intensity of the current one.

“In a war, you know, a classical war, I can say that in Syria, in Iraq, in ex-Yugoslavia, we didn’t see this kind of massacre,” Anthony Bellanger, the general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, told The Associated Press.

And since the end of the weeklong cease-fire in Gaza on Friday, the misery has continued, he said: “Unfortunately, we received the bad news this weekend — after the end of this cease-fire — and at least three or four were killed.”

Bellanger said they are mourning around 60 journalists, including at least 51 Palestinian ones and also Israeli and Lebanese. Most were killed during Israel’s bombardment in the Gaza Strip. He said Israeli journalists were also killed during Hamas’ attack in southern Israel that set off the war.

And yet amid the rubble, local journalists continue to do their job, said Nasser Abu Baker, president of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.

“They lost their families and they continue their work,” he said. “They are without houses and they continue their work.

... Without food, without the security for them, without their families. Also, if their families are still alive, they are not with their families because they are living or sleeping in the hospitals.”