during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, alongside other violence against journalists, making it the deadliest period for journalists in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict since 1992 and the deadliest start of a war in the 21st century for journalists. By 6 December, it was believed to be the deadliest war for journalists in decades. An estimated 48 media facilities in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli airstrikes. Reporters Without Borders claimed that the Israeli army had deliberately targeted Palestinian and Lebanese journalists.
Casualties
On 7 October 2023, more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, mostly civilians, were killed and 248 taken hostage during the initial attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip. As of 15 December, over 19,000 Palestinians and Israelis in all have been killed in the Israel–Hamas war, including 64 journalists (57 Palestinian, 4 Israeli and 3 Lebanese) and over 100 UNRWA aid workers. Over 17,700 Palestinians (the majority of whom were women and children) in the Gaza Strip have been killed according to the Gaza Health Ministry. A further 248 Palestinians were also killed in the West Bank by Israel military and settlers, and nine Israelis have been killed by Palestinians in the West Bank in the same period.[9] Casualties have also occurred in other parts of Israel, in southern Lebanon, and Syria. The Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association has condemned the spate of deaths and restated that: "Targeting journalists is a stark violation of press freedom and international human rights law".
Killing of journalists by Israeli forces
On 7 October, Israeli police damaged equipment of a television crew reporting in Ashkelon. On the same day, a journalist named Omar Abu Shawish was killed in Gaza. Journalists Mohammed El Salhi, Ibrahim Mohamed Lafi, Mohamed Jarghoun, Ibrahim Qanan, Nidal Al Wahidi, and Haitham Abdelwahid also faced various forms of violence or went missing. On 10 October 2023, the Hajji Tower airstrike destroyed an apartment block housing journalists' offices, killing at least three journalists along with civilians. Salam Khalil, the head of the Gaza Journalists Syndicate's Committee of Women Journalists, was buried under the rubble of her home together with her family in an Israeli strike on the same day and presumed dead. She was subsequently found to be alive with her children. On October 12, Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed and six others were wounded by IDF artillery in southern Lebanon. On 17 November, the Turkish news channel TRT World released footage showing the Israeli police attacking their news crew, leading the Turkish minister of communications Fahrettin Altun to say, “This ugly attack has added a new embarrassment to Israel’s record on press freedom." On 19 November, six media professionals were killed by Israeli forces in just 24 hours. On 3 December, the Committee to Protect Journalists stated 54 Palestinian journalists had been killed in the war thus far.
Killing of journalists' families
Several members of the family of Al Jazeera Arabic's Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh were killed in an Israeli airstrike on 25 October in the Nuseirat refugee camp, south of Wadi Gaza, where they had been sheltering after following the Israeli order for Palestinian civilians to move south from northern Gaza. Al Jazeera condemned the killings, calling it an "indiscriminate attack". Dahdouh, speaking to Al Jazeera, said "There is no safe place in Gaza at all". The Israeli army confirmed it had conducted an airstrike in the area near where Dahdouh's family had been sheltering, saying they were targeting "Hamas terrorist infrastructure". On 4 December, nine family members of CNN producer Ibrahim Dahman were killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza. On 11 December, an airstrike on the home of journalist Anas al-Sharif resulted in the death of his father. Dahdouh himself was later injured in an Israeli missile strike in Khan Younis while covering the Haifa School airstrike.
Claims of IDF targeting of journalists
During the conflict, Reporters Without Borders claimed that the Israeli army had deliberately targeted journalists. A Reporters Without Borders (RSF) investigation said that Israel had targeted journalists in missile strikes on 13 October that killed Reuters reporter Issam Abdallah and injured four others. These two Israeli missile strikes, 30 seconds apart, hit a group of seven journalists in southern Lebanon who were reporting on the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. In a video, the journalists are seen wearing vests and helmets identifying them as "PRESS". The marking was also present on the roof of their car, which exploded after being hit by the second missile. According to the Council of Europe, the intentional targeting of journalists constitutes a war crime.[39] The killing of journalists by Israeli forces in Gaza had been a recurring issue, with previous incidents in 2018 and 2021. Earlier in 2023, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released a report stating that 20 journalists had been killed by Israeli military fire since 2001, for which "to date, no one has been held accountable".
Courtesy : Wikipedia
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