- 4 Palestinian journalists nominated for international awards for press freedom

- Gaza ‘deadliest place’ in world for journalists, their families: UN 

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Israel has put Palestinian journalists in the line of fire since day one of its brutal war on Gaza. Its deliberate targeting of media members, their workplaces, homes, and families – in violation of international law – has prompted calls from rights organizations for an international intervention to protect them from Israeli attacks and ensure their professional freedom.  

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Bloodiest coverage 

Since the beginning of the war on Oct. 7, Palestinian journalists have faced the risks of Israeli air and ground attacks, besides suffering from food and water shortages, communication cuts, and the absence of necessary journalistic equipment.

Despite the obstacles, they have succeeded in portraying what was happening in the enclave. But at a tremendous cost.

Israel has killed at least 142 journalists since and wounded hundreds of others. It has also destroyed tens of media offices and headquarters, according to the Media Office in Gaza.

The latest deaths came Tuesday when Salem Abu Toyour, a journalist for the Al-Quds Today channel, and his son Hamza were killed in Israeli airstrikes on a house in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp.

The massive number of casualties has made this the deadliest conflict for journalists, surpassing not just the wars in Vietnam, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, but the two World Wars as well.

The data is backed up by the Committee to Protect Journalists, which investigates all reports related to the killing, injury, and disappearance of journalists and media workers.

It has called Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza “the bloodiest for journalists since the committee's work began in 1992.”

The International Center for Journalists announced in February that the war witnessed the highest levels of violence against the media in over 30 years, calling on Israel to stop killing journalists and investigate their targeting by its forces.

However, this is not the first time Israel has deliberately targeted journalists. The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) filed a complaint in 2018 after Israeli snipers fired at Palestinian journalists during the Great Return March in Gaza.

In the West Bank and Jerusalem as well, Palestinian journalists have faced repeated violations of their rights and targeting by the Israeli army for decades.

The most prominent incident in recent years, however, was the killing of Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh on May 11, 2022, by Israeli army gunfire.

Akleh, a prominent American-Palestinian reporter, was covering an Israeli military operation at the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli justifications

Israel attempts to justify its crimes against journalists by often labeling them as “terrorists.”

Benny Gantz, a minister in Tel Aviv’s War Cabinet, recently posted on X that “journalists who were aware of the massacres on Oct. 7, 2023, are no different from terrorists, and should be treated as such.”

In February, the Israeli army also attempted to justify the killing of Al Jazeera journalists Hamza al-Dahdouh and Mustafa Thriya, accusing them of being “terrorist operatives” belonging to the Hamas movement and its ally, Islamic Jihad.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked for clarifications from Western media outlets in November, accusing them of employing journalists who are allegedly members of Hamas and warned of immediate actions against them.

Media professionals believe that Israeli statements are “justifications and green-light” for attacking Palestinian journalists still able to document Israeli attacks on Gaza, especially as foreign journalists are not allowed to enter the besieged enclave to cover the war and its aftermath.

Graveyard of journalists

On Dec. 18, 2023, the United Nations described the Gaza Strip as “the deadliest place for journalists – and their families – in the world.”

In a press release, the UN Office in Occupied Palestinian Territories said: “Journalists and media workers, utilizing a variety of tools, including social media, have kept the world informed in real-time of the horrors that civilians in Gaza are enduring. Their dedication deserves tribute. But one by one, these eyes on the ground are going dark.”

Reporters Without Borders has described Gaza as “the graveyard of journalists,” where Israel deliberately assassinates them, restricts them in the field, prevents foreign journalists from entering Gaza, cuts off the internet, and sends threatening messages.

It has condemned what it calls the “eradication of journalism and the right to information in Gaza by the Israeli army.”

“Palestinian journalists are killed, wounded, and prevented from working without any possibility of safe refuge,” the Paris-based organization said in a statement on Feb. 8.

The organization nominated four Gazan journalists for the “Guillermo Cano” International Prize for Press Freedom, which was awarded Saturday.

It also called on UNESCO to award this year's prize to Wael al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, Aseel Moussa, an independent journalist, Ola al-Zanoun, a journalist and correspondent for Reporters Without Borders, and Moataz Azaiza, an independent journalist and photographer.

The organization called for honoring the four journalists on behalf of all their colleagues in Gaza, in appreciation of their exceptional coverage from the field and in recognition of their courage and determination since the beginning of the destructive war.

The UNESCO Guillermo Cano Prize has been awarded annually since 1997 to an individual or organization for their exceptional contribution to defending and promoting press freedom despite all dangers and obstacles.

'It's okay ... It's okay' in face of death

Al Jazeera’s Al-Dahdouh insisted on continuing to cover events in Gaza despite losing his wife, grandson, and three of his sons in an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp.

He received the news of his family's killing while live on air and headed to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah to bid them farewell, uttering his now famous words, “It's okay ... It's okay.”

In December, Al-Dahdouh was wounded in an Israeli airstrike that killed his colleague, photographer Samir Abu Daqqa.

On Jan. 7, the Israeli army assassinated Al-Dahdouh’s son Hamza and his colleague Thriya, who were covering events in Khan Younis.

The veteran journalist left Gaza on Jan. 16 through the southern Rafah border crossing with Egypt to receive urgent medical care in Qatar.

Another prominent case was journalist Mohammed Abu Dharoug, who was seriously injured in Israeli strikes targeting the tents for displaced persons and journalists inside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital square in Deir al-Balah.

The Abu Dharoug family appealed to the world to evacuate their son from Gaza for treatment abroad before his foot was amputated.

The situation was not much different for Sami Shehadeh, TRT Arabi's cameraman, who was seriously injured by an Israeli shell directly targeting him while he was covering the displacement of civilians from the Nuseirat camp during a military operation. The doctors were forced to amputate one of his feet due to the injuries.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion, which killed around 1,200 people.

Tel Aviv, in comparison, has killed nearly 34,600 Palestinians and wounded 77,700 others amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities in the Palestinian territory.

More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement besides a crippling blockade on food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to prevent genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.   

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala​​​​​​​