More than 200 media outlets, journalists, and press freedom organisations, including MDI, united on 1 September for a day of protest against the killing of journalists in Gaza.
The action, organised by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the global campaigning movement Avaaz, called for the protection of Palestinian journalists in Gaza, the emergency evacuation of reporters seeking to leave the Strip, an end to impunity for Israeli crimes against Gaza’s reporters, and foreign press to be given access to the territory.
Hundreds of journalists have been killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023, making it the deadliest war for media in recent history.
Numbers of those killed vary from at least 189 to around 250. The UN says at least 247 have been killed, and the Committee for the Protection of Journalists says it has documented at least 197 journalists and media workers killed during the war, 189 of them Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza.
Recent casualties include six media professionals, four from Al Jazeera, including reporter Anas al-Sharif, in an Israeli air strike on 10 August, and five journalists working for international media outlets, including Associated Press, Reuters, Middle East Eye and Al Jazeera, killed in a double strike on Nasser hospital on 25 August.
On 26 August, UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said the killing of journalists in Gaza should shock the world into action.
“We have seen and documented many attacks on journalists, which are unacceptable. At least 247 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since the 7th of October 2023. These journalists are the eyes and the ears of the whole world. And they must be protected.”
The media outlets involved in the campaign are making four demands:
- The protection of Palestinian journalists and an end to the impunity for crimes perpetrated by the Israeli army against them in the Gaza Strip.
- Foreign press be granted independent access to the Gaza Strip.
- Governments across the world host Palestinian journalists seeking evacuation from Gaza.
- With the opening of the 80th United Nations General Assembly, strong action from the international community and a call on the United Nations Security Council to stop the Israeli army’s crimes against Palestinian journalists.
Journalists across the world have also been holding vigils for their Gazan colleagues, demanding their governments pressure Israel into protecting media professionals. Media Diversity Institute Global members joined action in Brussels, which was attended by over 200 journalists and media workers. Members of AIJ, IFJ, EFJ and others spoke at the event, reading the names of the journalists who’ve been killed and renewing calls for international press to be given access.
“Journalist safety must be protected under international humanitarian law. Systematically targeting journalists creates an information vacuum that allows misinformation to spread. We stand by our colleagues in Gaza who bravely risk their lives to document conflict. We demand those responsible for their deaths be held accountable. Killing journalists profoundly undermines the foundations of a free and informed society,” said Luc Steinberg, Head of Operations, Media Diversity Institute Global.
Ahead of the General Assembly, UN Secretary General stressed that “the levels of death and destruction in Gaza are without parallel in recent times”. He said, “Famine is no longer a looming possibility – it is a present-day catastrophe”.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says more than half a million people are trapped in famine, marked by widespread starvation, destitution and preventable deaths. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), UNICEF, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the WHO say that by the end of September, more than 640,000 people will face Catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
International outrage over Israeli actions has been growing in recent months, including over the killing of journalists. France has been leading international efforts to recognise a state of Palestine at the General Assembly, which starts on 9 September. The UK, Canada and Australia have also said they will recognise a Palestinian state. Belgium is the latest country to join that pledge.
A number of organisations, including B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, have said Israel’s conduct in the conflict constitutes genocide against the Palestinian people.
They have been joined by the International Association of Genocide Scholars, which says what is happening in Gaza is genocide. On 31 August, the global, interdisciplinary, non-partisan organisation passed a resolution declaring that Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide.
It recognised that “since the horrific Hamas-led attack of 7 October 2023, which itself constitutes international crimes, the government of Israel has engaged in systematic and widespread crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, including indiscriminate and deliberate attacks against the civilians and civilian infrastructure (hospitals, homes, commercial buildings, etc.) of Gaza, which, according to official UN estimates, at the date of this resolution, has killed more than 59,000 adults and children in Gaza.”
On 16 September, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel said in a new report that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission, said: “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.”
Last updated on 16 September
