The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) announced, Friday, it will award its Golden Pen Award for Press Freedom to photographers and video journalists working in the Gaza Strip. It stated this is in recognition of their efforts to document the Israeli genocidal war on the enclave despite the significant risks to their lives.
In a statement, WAN-IFRA said journalists in Gaza “have witnessed death, destruction, and human suffering on an unprecedented scale for more than two and a half years.”
It added they are “victims of the conflict as much as they are chroniclers of a war that has raged and continues to rage around them.”
Read also: UN Commission: Gaza is the most dangerous place for journalists in the world
The award also includes recognition for journalists who were injured or killed while covering the war in Gaza.
The award will be presented to representatives of the three major international news agencies operating in Gaza: Agence France-Presse (AFP), Associated Press (AP), and Reuters. Among them is photographer Mohammed Abd, who worked with AFP in the Strip until April 2024 before moving to the agency’s Cairo bureau.
According to Reporters Without Borders, more than 220 journalists have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since the start of the war, including at least 70 journalists killed while performing their duties, according to figures published by the organization at the end of 2025.
The association stated that Israel has prevented foreign journalists from entering the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war, with the exception of limited visits organized under the escort of the Israeli army.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had previously confirmed that the Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world for journalists according to the Arabic Snd news agency.





