GAZA CITY, Palestine/ANKARA
As the world marks World Press Freedom Day, Palestinian journalists in Gaza continue to carry out their professional and humanitarian duties in reporting on the genocidal war by Israel since Oct. 7, 2023, despite being targeted with bombings, sniper fire, and arrests.
It is taking place amid a deafening silence from the international community and global institutions concerned with the rights of journalists A silence that, according to governmental and human rights bodies, encourages Israel to continue its crimes.
Since the beginning of the assault, Israel has killed 212 Palestinian journalists, including 13 women, in what the Gaza Government Media Office has described as “deliberate assassinations.”
The figure represents the highest recorded global death toll for journalists since records began in 1992, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights on April 26.
Human rights organizations and UN bodies frequently condemn the targeting of journalists in the Gaza Strip but fail to take action to protect them or guarantee their right to media freedom.
Like the 2.4 million Palestinians living under a suffocating Israeli siege for 18 years, Gaza’s journalists and their families face immense danger from direct attacks and killings to arrests and the daily struggle under the blockade, starvation, thirst and lack of access to medical care.
On April 18, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced the silence of international media institutions for the killing of journalists and condemned the inaction of human rights defenders in the face of Israel’s killing of children in Gaza.
- Human cost
As of April 25, the Israeli army has killed 212 journalists in Gaza as part of its assault on civilians.
According to a statement by the Government Media Office in Gaza, all of these killings occurred since Oct. 7, 2023.
The office’s director, Ismail Al-Thawabta, told Anadolu that the victims include local journalists, news agency reporters, and correspondents for international channels.
He added that Israel also wounded 409 journalists, arrested 48 and assassinated 21 prominent media activists known for their work on social media.
Thawabta noted that Israel has targeted the families of journalists as well as killing members of 28 media families and destroying 44 journalist homes -- partially or completely.
He described the systematic targeting of journalists as a “deliberate crime that rises to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity,” aimed at “silencing the truth and obstructing documentation of the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing” against Palestinian civilians.
Thawabta condemned Israel’s killing of journalists, bombing of media offices and restrictions on coverage as “flagrant violations” of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law, which clearly demand the protection of journalists in conflict zones.
- Financial losses
Thawabta said the media sector in Gaza has suffered an estimated preliminary losses of around $400 million since the assault began more than 19 months ago.
The losses include the destruction of media institutions and equipment, including television stations, radio channels, news agencies and media training centers.
He stated that 12 print institutions and 23 digital outlets were completely or partially destroyed, while 11 radio stations and 16 TV channels -- four local and 12 international -- were also targeted.
Additionally, five large printing presses and 22 smaller ones have been destroyed, along with five professional and legal unions related to media freedom.
Despite the destruction and the killings, 143 media institutions continue to operate in Gaza.
Since the start of the war, Israeli forces have also targeted media broadcast vehicles, transmitters, dozens of cameras and vehicles that were clearly marked “PRESS.”
“Speaking about press freedom is meaningless as long as the international silence on the systematic killing of journalists continues,” he said about World Press Freedom Day.
“We tell the world that press freedom is not measured by speeches or statements, but by the ability to protect journalists and grant them the right to report freely,” he added.
- Deliberate targeting
On April 26, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights accused Israel of “deliberately” killing journalists in Gaza to intimidate them and prevent them from reporting the reality of war.
The independent rights group said the escalation in journalist killings leaves no doubt that “the intent is to silence the truth and obscure the crimes” against civilians in Gaza.
It reported that most journalists were killed in airstrikes while others were shot by snipers.
The center said the deliberate killing of journalists constitutes a “war crime under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court,” in accordance with Article 8 of the Rome Statute.
The center warned that Israel’s impunity encourages it to “commit more crimes against journalists and their families.”
It urged the international community to protect civilians in Gaza and urged the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, to accelerate concrete steps in investigating crimes in Palestine, especially the killings of journalists who have paid the ultimate price in the pursuit of the truth.
World Press Freedom Day was established by a UN resolution on Dec. 20, 1993, and is commemorated annually on May 3.
