CPJ denounces Israel’s killing of 2 more Gaza journalists in return to war

Palestinians hold the body of journalist Hossam Shabat, who was killed by an Israeli strike, according to medics, in the northern Gaza Strip, on March 24, 2025.
Palestinians hold the body of journalist Hossam Shabat, who was killed by an Israeli strike in northern Gaza on March 24. (Photo: Reuters/Mahmoud Issa)

The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Monday’s killing in Gaza of Palestinian reporters Hossam Shabat and Mohammed Mansour by the Israel Defense Forces and calls for an independent international investigation into whether they were deliberately targeted.

On March 24, deadly Israeli strikes hit the car of Qatari-based Al Jazeera Mubasher’s Shabat near northern Gaza’s Beit Lahia, and the home in southern Gaza’s Khan Yunis of Mansour, who worked for the pro-Islamic Jihad, Beirut-based Palestine Today TV.

“CPJ is appalled that we are once again seeing Palestinians weeping over the bodies of dead journalists in Gaza,” said CPJ’s Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna in New York. “This nightmare in Gaza has to end. The international community must act fast to ensure that journalists are kept safe and hold Israel to account for the deaths of Hossam Shabat and Mohammed Mansour, whose killings may have been targeted.”

On March 18, Israel resumed airstrikes, ending the January 19 Gaza ceasefire.

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Also: Oscar-winning Palestinian ‘No Other Land’ director released after assault, arrest


CPJ, others urge Congress to support public broadcasting

The U.S. Capitol building as pictured in 2023. (Photo: CPJ/ Loghman Fattahi)
The U.S. Capitol building as pictured in 2023. (Photo: CPJ/ Loghman Fattahi)

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) sent Congress a letter urging bipartisan support for media freedom and public broadcasting ahead of the subcommittee’s March 26 hearing titled “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable.”

The press freedom advocates urged the subcommittee to recognize the critical role of a free press and cautioned against rhetoric that encourages hostility toward journalists.

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The Committee to Protect Journalists promotes press freedom worldwide.

We defend the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.

Journalists Attacked

Myat Thu Tan

MURDERED

Myat Thu Tan, a contributor to the local news website Western News and correspondent for several independent Myanmar news outlets, was shot and killed on January 31, 2024, while in military custody in Mrauk-U in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State.

He was arrested on September 22, 2022, and held in pre-trial detention under a broad provision of the penal code that criminalizes incitement and the dissemination of false news for critical posts he made on his Facebook page. Myat Thu Tan had not been tried or convicted at the time of his death.

The journalist’s body was found buried in a bomb shelter, with the bodies of six other political detainees, and showed signs of torture.

Myanmar’s military junta has cracked down on journalists and media outlets since seizing power in a February 2021 coup.

In at least 8 out of 10 cases, the murderers of journalists go free. CPJ is waging a global campaign against impunity.