The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has described August 2025 as a devastating month for press freedom, confirming that Israeli occupation forces killed 17 Palestinian journalists, including three women, Marwa Musallam, Maryam Abu Daqqa, and Islam Abed.
According to the Syndicate’s Freedom Committee, Israeli forces committed 86 documented violations against journalists in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip throughout the month.
These included killings, injuries, abductions, home demolitions, invasions of media offices, and systematic incitement campaigns.
Among the most horrific incidents were two massacres:
- On August 10, six journalists were killed near the Shifa Hospital in Gaza city.
- On August 25, five journalists were killed and four others wounded at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
At least nine journalists sustained serious injuries, including cases of amputation, paralysis, and spinal damage caused by direct shelling and live fire.
Additionally, three relatives of journalists were killed, and four family homes were destroyed.
The report also documented the abduction of three media workers: journalist Farah Abu Ayyash, photojournalist Muath Amarna, and journalist Osaid Amarna.
Israeli forces carried out six direct assaults on press crews and blocked 33 journalists from covering events in areas such as Al-Mughayyir, Beit Dajan, Ramallah, and Nablus.
The report also recorded three attacks by illegal Israeli paramilitary colonizers against journalists and three cases of incitement to murder by Israeli media figures and official pages, incitement that reportedly led to actual killings in Gaza.
Mohammad Al-Lahham, head of the Freedom Committee, emphasized that the targeting of Palestinian journalists has become a systematic policy aimed not only at silencing truth but at erasing the Palestinian narrative itself.
He called on international organizations and human rights bodies to take urgent action to protect journalists and hold perpetrators accountable.
Israel’s genocide in Gaza, by land, sea, and air, has continued unabated since October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of 64,368 Palestinians, including at least 17,366 children, 10,227 women and 290 journalists, and injuring 162,367 others, the majority of whom are women and children. Thousands remain trapped under rubble or stranded in the streets, unreachable by emergency and rescue teams.
