Journalists killed in Gaza ‘more than double’ annual global average
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The targeting of journalists in Gaza to "eliminate witnesses of the truth" continues unabated.
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Palestinians, including some journalists, carry the bodies of two Palestinian reporters, Mohammed Soboh and Said al-Tawil, who were killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza City on October 10, 2023. (AP)
The number of Palestinian journalists murdered in Israeli assaults in the Gaza Strip in one year is more than double the global average, according to a Palestinian press union on Saturday.
In a statement commemorating International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate stated that Israeli forces have killed 183 journalists in Gaza since October 2023.
"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.
On Friday, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay stated that 900 journalists had been slain globally since 2013, with an average of 82 journalists each year, which amounts to less than half the number of Palestinian journalists killed by "Israel" in Gaza.
The syndicate urged nations and organizations worldwide to "take urgent measures and decisions to establish binding and deterrent legal mechanisms to hold accountable and prosecute the murderers of journalists, ensuring they do not escape punishment."
Gaza journalists 'killed at a level unseen in any conflict': Guterres
In a message to the UN International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East 2024 Friday in Geneva, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the Israeli army's killing of journalists in Gaza "unacceptable" and demanded that they be protected from the genocide perpetrated by "Israel".
He noted that the war on Gaza finished its first year last month and that this symposium is being held under "profoundly difficult circumstances" owing to violations extending to Lebanon.
Guterres emphasized that the deteriorating situation in the occupied West Bank, including the eastern part of al-Quds, Israeli violence, settlement construction, and increased settler attacks all undermine the possibility of achieving a two-state solution.
The Secretary-General attacked "Israel's" prolonged prohibition on international media visiting Gaza, stating that journalists in Gaza "have been killed at a level unseen in any conflict."
He noted that journalists in the occupied West Bank have also been murdered or maimed by Israeli forces, reiterating his call for an end to the Israeli attacks and occupation and saying it is "high time" for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon along with the release of captives and delivery of humanitarian aid,
Guterres' comments come as the Gaza Government Media Office reported on Friday that the number of journalists killed since the start of the genocidal war has risen to 183 martyrs.
