Palestinian journalists killed in Israeli attacks commemorated in London

LONDON

Hundreds of people gathered in London on Wednesday to commemorate Palestinian journalists killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza, in an event held outside the UK Prime Minister’s Office at Downing Street.

The memorial, organized by the Freelance Branch of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), saw participants carrying banners bearing the names of journalists who have died in Israeli strikes.

Ahead of the event, NUJ officials delivered a letter to No. 10 Downing Street, setting out their expectations for the UK government regarding the deaths.

Speaking at the event, former BBC and LBC presenter Sangita Myska highlighted the death of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif.

She said he was “an important journalist for viewers” and recalled that despite being listed as at risk of death by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), he was left unprotected and killed on Aug. 10.

“Governments neither said anything nor did anything about this,” Myska said, adding that Israel had unjustifiably labelled Al-Sharif as a terrorist and stressed that “Israel still continues to threaten journalists.”

Myska described Palestinian journalists as “the bravest people in the world” and said “they continue their work despite Israeli attacks and threats. But the West belittles their profession.”

She also referred to five journalists killed in a recent Israeli attack on Nasser Hospital, who worked for major international media outlets including Reuters, The Associated Press, Middle East Eye and Al Jazeera.

“Israel, like terrorist organizations, carried out a second attack on those arriving at the scene after the first strike,” she said.

Myska criticized international media coverage, saying: “If Russia had killed five journalists on live broadcast, do you think the British media would have ignored it? I don’t think so.”

“A Palestinian journalist being killed is not just the death of one person -- it is the death of journalism,” she added.

Palestinian journalist Ahmed Alnaouq said: “Why does Israel kill journalists? Because it can. Because it knows it will answer to no one. Because reality is its greatest enemy. As long as no one opposes them, unfortunately, Israel will continue killing Palestinians.”

“The Palestinian journalists who were killed will not be forgotten; their stories will continue to be told, and we will shout their names,” he added.

The memorial ended with a reading of the names of the deceased journalists and a funeral prayer performed in absentia.

The new fatalities among the media personnel in Gaza brought the number of Palestinian journalists killed in Israeli attacks since October 2023 to 246.

Israel has killed more than 62,700 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.