The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate has condemned the ongoing Israeli military campaign against journalists, highlighting the deaths of 219 media professionals, including 30 female journalists.
According to the syndicate’s latest report, Israeli forces have continued their systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists and their families, particularly in Gaza, where at least 222 journalists have been killed, and 430 journalists have been injured by gunfire and airstrikes since October 7, 2023.
On Sunday, five Palestinian journalists were killed in separate Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip.
The slain journalists are Nour Qandeel, Khaled Abu Saif, Aziz Al-Hajjar, Ahmad Zenati and Abdul-Rahman Tawfiq Al-Abaldla.
It is worth mentioning that journalist Nour Qandeel was killed along with her husband and their baby girl when the army bombarded their home in Deir Al-Balah.
In Al-Qarara, a town near Khan Yunis, journalist Abdul Rahman Al-Abadla was killed in a separate Israeli strike.
His death follows the targeted assassination of journalist Hassan Eslayeh last week, when Israeli forces bombed Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis.
In April, another journalist lost their life, and nine others were injured when Israeli forces struck a media tent in Khan Yunis.
Additionally, at least 685 family members of journalists have been killed, while 1,000 journalists in Gaza face repeated displacement under dire conditions, lacking safety, electricity, and internet access to continue their work.
The report also highlights that 180 journalists have been abducted by Israeli authorities since October 2023, including 17 female journalists who have since been released.
Among those detained, 42 journalists have been placed under administrative detention, while 48 remain imprisoned across the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza.
The syndicate further condemned Israel’s forced disappearances of Palestinian journalists, citing the cases of Nidal Al-Wahidi and Haitham Abdul Wahid, whose whereabouts remain unknown. This practice violates international law, including the UN Convention on Enforced Disappearances, which came into effect in 2010.
In its war on media, Israeli forces have destroyed 115 media institutions in Gaza through air and ground assaults. Additionally, five press offices have been shut down in the West Bank and Jerusalem, while 12 printing presses have been either destroyed or closed.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate reaffirmed its commitment to working with international human rights and press organizations to ensure accountability for these violations and to protect journalists from further attacks. It called for urgent action to halt what it described as the largest massacre of journalists in modern history.
On Sunday, the Israeli army continued the genocide across the devasted, starved and besieged Gaza Strip, bringing the number of slain Palestinians in the past 24 hours to at least 151, including children and women, in addition to dozens of injuries.
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli army has killed at least 53,339 Palestinians and wounded 121,034, largely children, women and elderly, in addition to more than more than 11,000 missing, largely under the rubble, and hundreds of thousands displaced.
It is worth mentioning that the Government Media Office has updated the death toll in Gaza to over 61,700, including thousands previously listed as missing under the rubble who are now presumed dead.
