'Israel' killed 137 journalists in Gaza, largest on record in decades
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The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that the Israeli war on Gaza is the deadliest for journalists since the organization started collecting data in 1992.
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The funeral process of journalist martyr Abdul Wahab Aouni Abu Aoun, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his home in the al-Maghazi refugee camp on Sunday, March 31, 2024 (Social media)
The Government Media Office in Gaza stated that the number of journalists killed since the beginning of the genocidal war on the Strip has risen to 137 after an Israeli strike targeted the home of journalist Abdul Wahab Aouni Abu Aoun in the al-Maghazi refugee camp on Sunday, leading to his martyrdom.
المكتب الإعلامي الحكومي:
— احمد فوزي - Ahmed Faozi (@AFYemeni) March 31, 2024
- ارتفاع عدد الشهداء الصحفيين إلى (137 صحفياً) منذ بدء حرب الإبادة الجماعية على قطاع غزة، وذلك بعد ارتقاء الزميل الصحفي:
- الصحفي الشهيد/ عبد الوهاب عوني أبو عون المصور الصحفي والمونتير مع عدة وسائل إعلام استشهد بقصف الاحتلال لمنزلهم بمخيم المغازي وسط… pic.twitter.com/7IBWYRZM84
Journalists in Gaza are facing terrible dangers, brought forth by "Israel's" mass indiscriminate bombing of the Strip, communication and electricity outages, and supply shortages.
The Committee to Protect Journalists CPJ warned on Thursday that “journalists in Gaza face particularly high risks as they try to cover the conflict during the Israeli ground assault."
“CPJ is investigating all reports of journalists and media workers killed, injured, or missing in the war, which has led to the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992,” it added.
Read more: Day 177: 32,782 killed, 75,298 injured
An Israeli airstrike targeted earlier today tents housing journalists and forcibly displaced families within the premises of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. The aggression resulted in the martyrdom and wounding of over 20 people.
Earlier this week, the world's largest organization of journalists, the International Federation of Journalists, alongside 38 more media freedom organizations, including the CPJ, called on the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC) member countries to take “meaningful action” to protect journalists in Gaza.
Read more: WHO urges immediate evacuation of 9,000 Gaza patients for treatment
The situation in Gaza “requires action from your member states to consistently and publicly call for the treatment of Palestinian journalists, who continue to report from Gaza in spite of the risks," their statement read, also calling for “the immediate and unfettered access of international journalists to Gaza."
The groups condemned "the collective official silence of the MFC member states as a group regarding these killings, with increasing evidence of journalists being specifically targeted (..) seriously diminishes our collective ability to credibly stand up for media freedom globally."
Calling the journalists “our eyes and ears” on the ground, the organizations also stated that journalists in Gaza face serious threats to their safety and urgently need support and solidarity.
“Finally, the growing evidence of targeted killings of journalists in this war requires a clear and joint call for prompt, independent, effective and thorough investigations into these killings."
Conceal the genocide in Gaza
In a separate statement on Monday, the CPJ urged the United Nations to initiate an investigation into the occupation entity's detainment of Palestinian journalists.
“Israel is utilizing administrative detention to detain a record number of Palestinian journalists without charge,” the organization wrote in an urgent appeal submitted to the UNRWA on Arbitrary Detention.
In a statement to the press, the Committee stated that the appeal calls on the Working Group to investigate the cases of journalists Moath Amarneh, Mohammad Badr, and Ameer Abu Iram, all of whom have been detained by "Israel" without formal charges since October 7.
“The alarming use of administrative detention by Israeli authorities amid the Israel-Gaza war represents the silencing of dissenting voices, most notably journalists,” said CPJ Director of Advocacy and Communications Gypsy Guillen Kaiser.
“The incidence of administrative detention is a concerning bellwether for Israel’s efforts to restrict the public’s right to know what is happening in Gaza,” he added.
In early February, UN human rights experts sounded the alarm over soaring numbers of journalists killed in the war on Gaza, denouncing the "deliberate" Israeli strategy of silencing critical reporting.
On Monday, the Government Media Office in Gaza held Israeli occupation forces fully responsible for the safety and lives of the journalists and members of the media, who were taken to an unknown location after being tortured and brutally beaten.
The Office revealed that the Israeli occupation arrested a group of journalists who were reporting on the unfolding events in the Gaza Strip, as they gave updates on the wounded and famished in Al-Shifa Medical Complex.
Despite constant warnings by Palestinian and international media against the Israeli targeting of journalists in the Gaza Strip and calls for their protection, the occupation continues to systemically and deliberately target and kill journalists and media personnel in an attempt to conceal its genocidal crimes against the people of Palestine.
