‘There is nothing to celebrate,’ says Gazan journalist on World Press Freedom Day: ‘The genocide continues. The silence of international institutions is deafening’
GAZA — As the world observes World Press Freedom Day on May 3, Palestinian journalists in Gaza are enduring one of the darkest chapters in press history. In the besieged enclave, cameras have become targets and words can cost lives as Israel’s genocidal war rages on.
What once was a mission to report the truth has become a daily risk of death. Since Oct. 7, 2023, at least 212 Palestinian journalists have been killed — most while reporting in the field or in their homes during airstrikes — according to official and local statistics.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights recently confirmed it is the highest number of journalist deaths recorded globally in a single conflict since 1992.
Journalists describe their profession as not only endangered, but also as being “burned alive on air.”
– Cry for justice
Sami Shahadeh, a journalist who lost his leg in an Israeli airstrike and is barred from leaving Gaza for medical treatment, described the media landscape as a war zone.
“Carrying a camera is now a cause for fear,” he told Anadolu. “There’s a deliberate campaign of distortion and targeting against Palestinian journalists. This isn’t random — it’s systemic.”
Shahadeh, like many of his peers, believes international institutions have failed them.
“We deserve the right to carry our cameras, to share the truth,” he said. “It’s time for international courts to enforce the laws meant to protect us.”
Ramzi Mahmoud, another journalist collaborating with Anadolu, survived the conflict but lost 19 family members, including his wife, daughter, mother and sisters, when Israeli bombs destroyed his home.
“I still haven’t been able to recover their bodies,” he said. “On World Press Freedom Day, there is nothing to celebrate. The genocide continues. The silence of international institutions is deafening.”
– Not collateral, a deliberate target
For journalist Mutia Mosbah, the targeting of media workers is part of a broader strategy to silence the Palestinian narrative.
“This is not a coincidence. This is a calculated effort to eliminate the press,” he stated, adding: “Despite this, we remain determined to continue our mission.”
At a gathering point for journalists in Gaza City, young reporter Mohammed Jarbouh held a microphone and echoed the same plea: “We lost reporters and cameramen in every province but we are here to carry on their message. Stop the war. Let us tell the story.”
– Gaza: World’s deadliest place for journalists
Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said Gaza has become “one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists.”
He told Anadolu that they believe Israel is “deliberately killing journalists” in Gaza to suppress reporting from the ground.
The Gaza Government Media Office reported that at least 409 media workers have been injured, 48 arrested, and 21 influential social media journalists killed. The office also said 28 journalist families have been wiped out entirely, and 44 homes belonging to media professionals have been damaged or destroyed.
Estimated losses to Gaza’s media sector have reached $400 million, including the destruction of news agencies, broadcast equipment and training centers.
“These are not random incidents,” said Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the media office. “This is a calculated campaign to dismantle the media sector and extinguish voices documenting the genocide.”
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and other rights organizations say the attacks constitute war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
– Plea for protection
Journalists in Gaza are calling on the international community for basic protection: legal safeguards, secure communication tools, protective equipment, and above all, the right to live and report freely.
As 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza endure hunger, thirst, and relentless violence, its journalists continue to brave the frontline not just to tell the world what is happening but also to prove they are still here, resisting with cameras and words.
“It’s time the world hears our cry,” said Mahmoud. “Protect the storytellers, because without them there will be no story left to tell.”
Israel targets, silences Gaza Journalists
As the world marks World Press Freedom Day, Palestinian journalists in Gaza continue to carry out their professional and humanitarian duties in reporting on the genocidal war by Israel since Oct. 7, 2023, despite being targeted with bombings, sniper fire, and arrests.
It is taking place amid a deafening silence from the international community and global institutions concerned with the rights of journalists A silence that, according to governmental and human rights bodies, encourages Israel to continue its crimes.
Since the beginning of the assault, Israel has killed 212 Palestinian journalists, including 13 women, in what the Gaza Government Media Office has described as “deliberate assassinations.”
The figure represents the highest recorded global death toll for journalists since records began in 1992, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights on April 26.
Human rights organizations and UN bodies frequently condemn the targeting of journalists in the Gaza Strip but fail to take action to protect them or guarantee their right to media freedom.
Like the 2.4 million Palestinians living under a suffocating Israeli siege for 18 years, Gaza’s journalists and their families face immense danger from direct attacks and killings to arrests and the daily struggle under the blockade, starvation, thirst and lack of access to medical care.
On April 18, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced the silence of international media institutions for the killing of journalists and condemned the inaction of human rights defenders in the face of Israel’s killing of children in Gaza.
– Human cost
As of April 25, the Israeli army has killed 212 journalists in Gaza as part of its assault on civilians.
According to a statement by the Government Media Office in Gaza, all of these killings occurred since Oct. 7, 2023.
The office’s director, Ismail Al-Thawabta, told Anadolu that the victims include local journalists, news agency reporters, and correspondents for international channels.
He added that Israel also wounded 409 journalists, arrested 48 and assassinated 21 prominent media activists known for their work on social media.
Thawabta noted that Israel has targeted the families of journalists as well as killing members of 28 media families and destroying 44 journalist homes — partially or completely.
He described the systematic targeting of journalists as a “deliberate crime that rises to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity,” aimed at “silencing the truth and obstructing documentation of the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing” against Palestinian civilians.
Thawabta condemned Israel’s killing of journalists, bombing of media offices and restrictions on coverage as “flagrant violations” of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law, which clearly demand the protection of journalists in conflict zones.
– Financial losses
Thawabta said the media sector in Gaza has suffered an estimated preliminary losses of around $400 million since the assault began more than 19 months ago.
The losses include the destruction of media institutions and equipment, including television stations, radio channels, news agencies and media training centers.
He stated that 12 print institutions and 23 digital outlets were completely or partially destroyed, while 11 radio stations and 16 TV channels — four local and 12 international — were also targeted.
Additionally, five large printing presses and 22 smaller ones have been destroyed, along with five professional and legal unions related to media freedom.
Despite the destruction and the killings, 143 media institutions continue to operate in Gaza.
Since the start of the war, Israeli forces have also targeted media broadcast vehicles, transmitters, dozens of cameras and vehicles that were clearly marked “PRESS.”
“Speaking about press freedom is meaningless as long as the international silence on the systematic killing of journalists continues,” he said about World Press Freedom Day.
“We tell the world that press freedom is not measured by speeches or statements, but by the ability to protect journalists and grant them the right to report freely,” he added.
– Deliberate targeting
On April 26, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights accused Israel of “deliberately” killing journalists in Gaza to intimidate them and prevent them from reporting the reality of war.
The independent rights group said the escalation in journalist killings leaves no doubt that “the intent is to silence the truth and obscure the crimes” against civilians in Gaza.
It reported that most journalists were killed in airstrikes while others were shot by snipers.
The center said the deliberate killing of journalists constitutes a “war crime under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court,” in accordance with Article 8 of the Rome Statute.
The center warned that Israel’s impunity encourages it to “commit more crimes against journalists and their families.”
It urged the international community to protect civilians in Gaza and urged the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, to accelerate concrete steps in investigating crimes in Palestine, especially the killings of journalists who have paid the ultimate price in the pursuit of the truth.
World Press Freedom Day was established by a UN resolution on Dec. 20, 1993, and is commemorated annually on May 3. — With inputs from AA
