The killing of five journalists in Israeli airstrikes on Nasser hospital last week is yet another reminder of the unprecedented death toll among those reporting on the war in Gaza. The five who died worked as reporters and videographers for international agencies including Reuters, NBC and Al Jazeera. They were among more than 20 fatalities in the two strikes which took place minutes apart last Monday.
The total number of journalists killed in Gaza since October 2023 now stands at 210 – an extraordinarily high figure in comparison with other conflicts around the world. These deaths are not merely the collateral toll of war. They represent a pattern. To remain silent in the face of such a record is to collude in the very erasure those journalists gave their lives to resist.
Despite denials from Israel, the French NGO Reporters without Borders points to clear evidence that journalists have been deliberately targeted. It has called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting to ensure protection for journalist along with concrete measures to end impunity for crimes against them and for access to Gaza to be opened to all reporters.
Israel insists that no foreign media can be permitted entry to the territory because their safety cannot be guaranteed. That is a transparent fiction. The purpose of the ban is not protection but concealment: Binyamin Netanyahu’s government is intent on limiting scrutiny of the horror being inflicted every day on innocent civilians.
RM Block
Equally cynical are Israel’s frequent attempts to cast doubt on the independence or integrity of Palestinian journalists. The suggestion is that these reporters are compromised, their work unreliable, their loyalties suspect. Yet it is their images and testimony that international audiences have come to rely on. Without them, the devastation of Gaza would be far less visible. Their reporting has often been corroborated by satellite imagery, humanitarian agencies and by the testimony of survivors. The credibility of these journalists rests on a firmer foundation than the evasions of official spokespeople.
Every death in Gaza is a tragedy. No human life is of greater value than another. But the deliberate targeting of reporters deserves particular attention. To extinguish the lives of those who bear witness is not only a crime; it strikes at the very principle that war crimes must be seen and recorded. It is an attack on truth and justice.
Press freedom has long been held up as a measure of democratic credibility. For decades, Israel has presented itself as the region’s only democracy, claiming adherence to the rule of law and a rights-based order. The systematic killing of journalists, alongside the broader destruction of civilian life in Gaza, renders such claims unsustainable.
