103 journalists killed in 150 days in Gaza

Mohammed Arifeen

At least 103 journalists have been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza in the past five months, according to the tally of one of the deadliest ever wars for the media compiled by Reporters without Borders (RSF). At least 22 of these journalists were killed in the course of their work, RSF has so far established. The figure of 103 journalists killed by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in five months of war in Gaza is a chilling one. Since 7 October, the day the war began, the names of the victims have been steadily added to this continuing tragedy’s appalling toll. Journalists working for TV, radio, print media and multimedia, photographers and camera operators, 91 men and 12 women journalists of all ages, all Palestinians, are among this war’s victims. They were killed in different places in Gaza, from the north to the south and including Khan Yunis, showing how no part of the Gaza Strip offers a refuge for journalists. At least 22 of these journalists were killed in the course of their work or because of their work, according to the information so far collected by RSF. Many of them were reporting in the field and were clearly identifiable as journalists. Others were killed by strikes that specifically targeted their homes. RSF has twice referred the crimes committed against journalists by Israel to the International Criminal Court.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.

?

The first three months of the war were the deadliest for the media. Nearly 80% of the 103 media fatalities occurred between 7 October and 31 December. An average of nearly one journalist a day was killed during this period. A total of 26 journalists were killed in 24 days in October, 28 journalists in November and 26 journalists in December. Gaza’s reporters have lived with an “omnipresent danger of death” since 7 October, said RSF correspondent Ola al-Zaanoun, who was recently evacuated from Gaza. In January, 11 journalists were killed, including Al Jazeera journalists Hamza Dahdouh and Moustapha Thurayya. They were killed when the vehicles in which they were travelling were hit by an Israeli strike. In February, 11 journalists were also killed, an average of one every four days.? No safe zone for journalists

During these five months, journalists have been killed everywhere: in their offices, in the field, in their homes, in refugee camps, outside hospitals and in their cars. Nowhere is safe for media workers in the besieged enclave. While the Israeli incursions initially focused on Gaza City in the north during the first two months, they also killed at least five journalists in Rafah during that period. At the start of December, the focus of the hostilities shifted to Khan Yunis in the centre of the enclave, and finally Rafah, adjoining the closed Egyptian border, has been living under the threat of an imminent land invasion since the start of 2024. The journalists who sought refuge in the south are holding their breath as they have nowhere else to go.

World Press Freedom Day: Gaza conflict deadliest for journalism. As the war in Gaza becomes the deadliest conflict for journalists, Al Jazeera looks at press freedom in the past year. Colleagues and family members pray over the body of Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqa, who was killed during Israeli bombardment, during his funeral in Khan Yunis on the southern Gaza Strip. Colleagues and family members pray at the funeral of Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abudaqa in Khan Younis, Gaza .Every year on May 3, UNESCO commemorates World Press Freedom Day. It is being marked today at a particularly perilous time for journalists globally, with Israel’s war on Gaza becoming the deadliest conflict for journalists and media workers. Arab world speaks out on killing of Al Jazeera journalist’s family. ?Since the start of the war, at least 34,596 Palestinians have been killed and 77,816 others injured in Gaza. More than 8,000 others are missing, buried under the rubble.US politics, Canada’s multiculturalism, South America’s geopolitical rise—we bring you the stories that matter. Gaza’s reporters must be protected, those who wish must be evacuated, and Gaza’s gates must be opened to international media.” Jonathan Dagher, Head of RSF’s Middle East desk said in a statement in April. “The few reporters who have been able to leave bear witness to the same terrifying reality of journalists being attacked, injured and killed … Palestinian journalism must be protected as a matter of urgency.”

Al Jazeera journalists killed and injured in Gaza. On January 7, Hamza Dahdouh, the eldest son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, Wael Dahdouh, was killed by an Israeli missile in Khan Younis. Hamza, who was a journalist like his father, was in a vehicle near al-Mawasi, a supposedly safe area that Israel designated, with another journalist, Mustafa Thuraya, who was also killed in the attack. According to reports from Al Jazeera correspondents, Hamza and Mustafa’s vehicle was targeted as they were trying to interview civilians displaced by previous bombings.

?

Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza, Wael Al-Dahdouh (C) hugs his daughter during the funeral of his son Hamza Wael Dahdouh, a journalist with the Al Jazeera television network, who was killed in a reported Israeli air strike in Rafah in the Gaza Strip on January 7.Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza, Wael Dahdouh, centre, hugs his daughter during the funeral of his son Hamza Wael Dahdouh, a journalist with the Al Jazeera television network, who was killed in a reported Israeli air strike in Rafah in the Gaza Strip on January 7, 2024.The Al Jazeera Media Network strongly condemned the attack, adding: “The assassination of Mustafa and Hamza … whilst they were on their way to carry out their duty in the Gaza Strip, reaffirms the need to take immediate necessary legal measures against the occupation forces to ensure that there is no impunity.”

?

?

?

.

?

?

?

?

?