Since the resumption of the genocide against Gaza a few weeks ago, more than 15 journalists have been deliberately and maliciously targeted by the occupation regime. 

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed 232 journalists – an average of 13 per week – making it the deadliest conflict for media workers ever recorded, according to a report by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs’ Costs of War project. 

The targeting of journalists is a tactic that has been used time and again by Israel to subdue and repress news coming out from Gaza that contradicts Israeli accounts. Israel is well aware of the massive social media following of these journalists and how vital their reporting is to provide people with real-time information regarding events happening on the ground in Gaza.

These journalists, the heroes of our time, have risked their lives and their families in order to share their footage with the world and to challenge the Zionist narrative.

The attack on journalists is not just an attack on free speech. It is an attack on humanity. The occupation army is attempting by all vile means necessary to control the media narrative, thereby controlling what we, the public, see and, by extension, how we will react. Israel is desperately losing the media war, and its propaganda tactics are flimsy at best; hence, the frenzied killing of journalists- the only people who are able to expose them.

Israel’s attacks on journalists are not random. They are punitive and catastrophic, especially for people in Gaza who desperately need the world to rally together to call for an end to the genocide and to garner mass solidarity action.

Israel denies that the people of Gaza are starving. They are denying that there are no supplies. They continue to lie about the death toll and the scale of human suffering. Journalists in Gaza have successfully refuted these claims, showing the world the reality on the ground.

Journalists in print media, radio, and television have all been ruthlessly eliminated and targeted by the occupation regime.

A few days ago, a strike on a journalist’s tent killed more than 2 journalists who were burnt alive and injured 9 others. This is barbaric. It is horrific. It is something that should spur journalists across the world into action. Writing articles about what is happening and merely reporting on it is not nearly enough. Now is the time to take concrete action. Journalists are civilians and are protected by International Law, as are medical professionals and humanitarian aid workers. Therefore, the killing of journalists constitutes a war crime.

“Since the war in Gaza started, journalists have been paying the highest price – their lives – for their reporting. Without protection, equipment, international presence, communications, or food and water, they are still doing their crucial jobs to tell the world the truth,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna in New York. “Every time a journalist is killed, injured, arrested, or forced to go to exile, we lose fragments of the truth. Those responsible for these casualties face dual trials: one under international law and another before history’s unforgiving gaze.”

I call upon all media houses, radio stations and television broadcasters to protest against the killing of journalists in Gaza by either implementing a media blackout, publishing obituaries of slain journalists, publishing journalist profiles and prominently featuring Gaza journalists on the front page of their publications. Other actions can include observing a moment of silence on the radio or television, encouraging boycotts and mass action and publishing advertisements condemning the genocide. 

Currently, the death toll stands at over 200. We, the citizens, have to take a stand and do something. These journalists sacrificed their lives to live up to the principles and ethics of their profession. We owe them this at the very least.

Zaynab Khan