Israel-Hamas war witnesses highest journalist death toll in 10 weeks: CPJ

The first 10 weeks of the Israel-Gaza war have been the deadliest recorded for journalists, with the most journalists killed in a single year in one location, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Thursday.

Most of the journalists and media workers killed in the war – 61 out of 68 – were Palestinian. The report said it was “particularly concerned about an apparent pattern of targeting of journalists and their families by the Israeli military.”

A spokesperson for Israel’s military has said the forces don’t target journalists.

Four Israeli and three Lebanese journalists, including Reuters visuals journalist Issam Abdallah, were also killed between Oct. 7 and Dec. 20, CPJ data showed.

Aunt of Issam Abdallah, a Reuters video journalist who was killed in southern Lebanon while filming an Israeli tank firing into Lebanon, reacts during a candlelight vigil, in Beirut, Lebanon, October 20, 2023.

The group, a nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide, said it was further investigating the circumstances of all journalist deaths. It said such efforts in Gaza were hampered by widespread destruction and by the killing of journalists’ family members, who typically serve as sources for investigators looking into how the journalists died.

Al-Jazeera correspondent Wael Al-Dahdouh mourns over the body of one of his three children who were killed along with his wife in an Israeli strike in the Nuseirat camp, at Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir Al-Balah on the southern Gaza Strip, on October 25, 2023.

Reporting in Gaza has been severely restricted under intense Israeli bombardment, with repeated communications blackouts and a lack of food, fuel and housing, said CPJ, adding that foreign journalists have not been able to independently access the strip for most of the war.

“The Israel-Gaza war is the most dangerous situation for journalists we have ever seen, and these figures show that clearly,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “The Israeli army has killed more journalists in 10 weeks than any other army or entity has in any single year. And with every journalist killed, the war becomes harder to document and to understand.”

Relatives and colleagues of two Palestinian journalists Hasouna Slim and Sari Mansoor, killed in an Israeli strike, mourn over their bodies during their funeral in Deir al-Balah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 19, 2023.

A May report by CPJ found that Israeli soldiers had killed at least 20 journalists in the last 22 years and none had ever been charged or held accountable.

Earlier this month, a Reuters investigation found an Israeli tank crew killed Abdallah and wounded six reporters in Lebanon on Oct. 13 by firing two shells in quick succession from Israel while the journalists were filming cross-border shelling.

Journalists, relatives and friends pray over the body of Palestine TV journalist Mohamed Abu Hatab and eleven family members the day after they were killed when their home was hit in the Israeli bombardment of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip on November 3, 2023.

At least 1,200 people were killed in Israel and 240 were taken hostage on Oct. 7 after Hamas launched a surprise attack, according to Israeli tallies. Gaza health officials say nearly 20,000 Palestinians have since been confirmed killed in Israeli strikes, with thousands more believed lost under rubble.