Israeli Kills 202 Journalists in Gaza Genocide

202 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Israeli attacks since the start of the ongoing Israeli genocidal war in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.

The last victim was journalist Omar al-Dirawi who was killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting his family’s home in al-Zawaideh in central Gaza on Friday morning according to Quds News Network.

The office condemned Israel’s killings of journalists, calling on the international community and rights groups to condemn Israeli crimes and prosecute them in international courts.

“Bloody Year”

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has been considered the deadliest for journalists and media workers in the world in 30 years.

Critics accuse Israel – which banned foreign reporters from entering Gaza – of targeting journalists in the Palestinian territory to obscure the truth about its war crimes there.

“Deliberately targeting journalists is a war crime under international law. This attack must be independently investigated and the perpetrators must be held to account,” Programme Director at Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Carlos Martinez de la, said.

In a recent report, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) described 2024 as a “particularly bloody year.”

According to the IFJ’s annual report, as of December 10, 2024, 104 journalists have been killed worldwide since January 1, with more than half of them in Gaza.

Seventy-five percent of all reporters killed in the world in 2023 were killed between October 7 and the end of last year.

IFJ Secretary General Anthony Bellanger described 2024 as “one of the worst years” for media professionals. He condemned the “massacre taking place in Palestine before the eyes of the entire world.”

In a separate report, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Palestine is the most “dangerous country for journalists, recording a higher death toll than any other country over the past five years.” The report covers data up to December 1.

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RSF: Israel is Third Largest Jailer of Journalists

The Israeli army was behind one-third of all unnatural journalist deaths globally in 2024, according to a report released Thursday by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

The RSF’s annual report on the state of press freedom highlighted the alarming risks faced by journalists worldwide. It revealed that 550 journalists were detained, 55 held hostage, and 95 reported missing this year.

A total of 54 journalists were killed in 2024, the highest figure in the past five years, with most deaths occurring in conflict zones. Of those, one in three were killed during Israeli bombardments, including 16 in Gaza and two in Lebanon.

Since October 2023, more than 145 journalists have been killed in Gaza, with at least 35 deliberately targeted or killed while on duty by Israeli forces, the report stated.

RSF said it has compelling evidence that dozens of journalists in Gaza and Lebanon were targeted due to their profession, adding that it has submitted four war crime complaints against the Israeli army to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Israel has also emerged as the world’s third-largest jailer of journalists this year, according to the report.

Commenting on the killings, RSF Director-General Thibaut Bruttin said: “Most of these reporters’ identities were easily verifiable, and their status should have offered them protection. Yet, they were killed in deliberate attacks by Israel, ignoring international conventions.”

Bruttin also criticized the ban on foreign media entering Gaza, describing it as a critical blow to press freedom. “In 2024, Gaza became the most dangerous place for journalists, where even the practice of journalism faces the threat of extinction,” he said.

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