Committee to Protect Journalists – Defending Journalists Worldwide.

Israel kills 9 Palestinian journalists in 12 days

Civil defense members put out a fire in a broadcast van following an Israeli strike on December 26, 2024, that Gaza health authorities say killed five journalists with the Al-Quds Al-Youm television channel. (Photo: Reuters/Khamis Said)

Israeli forces killed nine Palestinian journalists in Gaza between December 14 and 26, prompting CPJ to renew its calls for the international community to hold Israel accountable for its attacks on the media.

Five of the journalists, who worked for Al-Quds Al-Youm TV, a channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group, were killed in a December 26 strike on their vehicle outside Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. The Associated Press reported that footage showed the van had visible press markings.

“CPJ denounces Israel’s killing of five journalists working for Al-Quds Al-Youm TV,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director in New York. “The Israeli strike on their vehicle, which was clearly marked ‘Press,’ means that at least nine Gazan journalists have been killed in less than two weeks. The international community must act now to protect Palestinian journalists in Gaza and end Israel’s impunity for these killings.”

An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson posted on social media platform X that those killed on December 26 were militants posing as journalists.

Earlier in December, Israeli forces killed four journalists in separate strikes on December 14 and 15.

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2 journalists killed, 7 injured in Haitian hospital attack

Journalists Marckendy Natoux (left) and Jimmy Jean were shot dead while covering a reopening at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on December 24, 2024. (Screenshots: Haitian Times/YouTube and Beleza Haiti News/YouTube)

At least two journalists were among those killed and seven others injured when suspected gang members opened fire in a Christmas Eve shooting at the General Hospital in the downtown area of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, according to news reports and two Haitian journalists who witnessed the attack.

The journalists were attacked around 11 a.m. Tuesday as they waited for Health Minister Duckenson Lorthe Blema to reopen a wing of the hospital, which was closed following a gang attack earlier this year.

A local gang leader, Johnson ‘Izo’ André, claimed responsibility for the attack in a video posted on WhatsApp, saying the Viv Ansanm gang coalition had not authorized the reopening.

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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.

Learn more about Myat Thu Tan