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Israeli forces killed 18 journalists in Gaza in November: Rights group

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
8 Dec 2024 20:42

The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms says Israeli forces committed 65 violations against journalists in the occupied West Bank and Gaza during the reported period.

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Mourners around the body of journalist Ismail al-Ghoul, killed along with his cameraman Rami al-Refee in an Israeli strike on July 31, 2024 (AFP)

At least 18 Palestinian media workers were killed in November as a result of Israeli assaults on the Gaza Strip, highlighted a recent report by a Palestinian journalists’ rights group.

The report, issued by the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA), indicated that the Israeli occupation is deliberately targeting journalists to suppress coverage of the war and its severe human rights violations.

According to MADA, Israeli forces committed 65 violations against journalists in the occupied West Bank and Gaza during the reported period.

The report detailed that these violations included 22 incidents in the occupied West Bank and 43 in Gaza.

MADA emphasized that the Israeli assaults aim to “silence journalists and prevent them from documenting the ongoing events and atrocities for the global community.”

The group further reported that Israeli airstrikes destroyed the homes of seven journalists in Gaza.

Another Palestinian journalist killed in Gaza, death toll at 192

Last week, the Gaza Strip's Government Media Office announced that another Palestinian journalist was murdered in an Israeli bombing in the Strip, bringing the total number of deaths to 192 since the start of the brutal war on Gaza.

Maysara Ahmed Salah, who works for the local Quds News Network, died of gunshot wounds after being wounded by troops in northern Gaza.

The Gaza Media Office urged the world community and press groups "to deter the (Israeli) occupation and prosecute it in international courts for its ongoing crimes" against Palestinian journalists.

Separately, the Palestinian Journalists Forum issued a statement mourning Salah's death, saying he "took the path of freedom, paved with blood and sacrifices, in defense of the oppressed Palestinian nation and sought to show their sufferings to the world."

The forum also decried the global silence and inactivity in protecting Palestinian journalists and allowing them to carry out their professional duties in line with international law and humanitarian principles.

Journalists reporting the genocidal war in the Palestinian territories face increased hazards, especially in light of Israeli ground offensives and bombings, as well as problems like broken communications, supply shortages, and power outages.

Journalists killed in Gaza ‘more than double’ annual global average

Last month, the Palestinian press union revealed that the number of Palestinian journalists murdered in Israeli assaults in the Gaza Strip in the past year is more than double the global average.

In a statement commemorating International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate stated that "this figure is more than double the number of journalists killed annually around the world," according to the statement.

The syndicate emphasized that the continued massacres and targeting of journalists "will not go unpunished" as they aim to "eliminate witnesses of the truth" in what they called the largest and most ruthless massacre against journalists in the history of global media.