ISTANBUL

The Israeli army has accounted for nearly half of journalists' deaths worldwide in 2025, a report showed on Tuesday.

According to Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based international NGO defending journalists’ rights, 2025 has witnessed a surge in the number of murdered journalists around the world.

The report showed that 67 media professionals were killed over the course of one year, and at least 53 of them were the victims of “criminal practices of military groups and organized crime.”

“Nearly half (43%) of the journalists slain in the past 12 months were killed in Gaza by Israeli armed forces,” the report said.

Approximately 220 journalists have been killed by the Israeli army since October 2023, 65 of whom were targeted due to their profession or while working, it added.

According to data from the Gaza Government Media Office, at least 257 Palestinian journalists have been killed by the Israeli army in Gaza since the start of the genocidal war.

Israel ranked second in the number of foreign journalist detentions, the report said, as 20 Palestinian journalists have been imprisoned in 2025, in addition to 16 arrested in Gaza and the occupied West Bank over the past two years.

The Israeli army has killed more than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 171,000 others in Gaza since October 2023.

The report found Mexico “the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists,” with nine killed, and China is the host of the “world’s largest prison for journalists,” holding 121 reporters.

Journalists face higher risks in their own countries, the organization said, as all slain professionals, except two, were killed while performing their duties in their home countries.

“In Sudan, journalists face serious abuse as conflict continues to rage,” the report said, noting that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces killed four journalists in 2025, including two who were abducted by the rebel group.

A total of 37 journalists out of 135 are currently missing in Syria, having disappeared during the rule of ousted President Bashar al-Assad after being imprisoned by the regime authorities or held hostage by ISIS (Daesh), the report showed.

Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia on Dec. 8, 2024, ending the Baath Party regime, which had been in power since 1963.

Al-Sharaa, who led anti-regime forces to oust Assad, was declared president for a transitional period in late January.