Committee to Protect Journalists – Defending Journalists Worldwide.

Israel-Gaza war impact gets harder to document

Smoke rises from the southern Gaza city of Rafah following Israeli airstrikes on May 6, 2024. (Reuters/Hatem Khaled)

As the Israel-Gaza war enters its eighth month, the verification of information about journalists killed, injured, and arrested, has slowed to a crawl.

A CPJ report finds that the unprecedented number of deaths, with more than 90 Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli forces since the start of the war, displacement, and censorship are all making it exponentially harder for the organization’s researchers to confirm information about the conflict’s devastating impact on Gaza’s media community – and, by extension, about the broader impact of the war.

“At the start of the war it would take us a day or two to verify information about a journalist who had been killed or injured,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna. “Collecting and vetting this information is now taking us weeks or months, and in some cases won’t be possible at all.”

More CPJ coverage of the Israel-Gaza war
CPJ calls for investigation into Israeli shooting at 2 Al-Araby TV journalists; condemns Al-Jazeera shutdown
CPJ urges release of Palestinian journalist on humanitarian grounds
CPJ: Journalists must be allowed to cover campus protests safely

‘Witch-hunt’ for Serbian journalists

A poster of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is seen during a rally of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) ahead of parliamentary elections in Belgrade on December 2. (Photo: Reuters/Marko Djurica)

Serbian journalists and press freedom advocates have pointed to a concerning deterioration in the media’s ability to report without fear of reprisal under the country’s populist president, Aleksandar Vučić, who scored a sweeping parliamentary victory last December.

Critical journalists feel targeted, sometimes in orchestrated campaigns by Vučić supporters, politicians, public officials, and pro-government media.

To better understand the precarious situation for the Serbian press, CPJ spoke with eight journalists and advocates, some of whom have left the country out of fear for their safety. Read CPJ’s briefing on press freedom in Serbia.

Journalists Attacked

Shireen Abu Akleh

MURDERED

Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American correspondent for Al Jazeera Arabic, was fatally shot while covering an Israeli army operation in the West Bank town of Jenin. In the two years since her May 11, 2022 death, no one has been held accountable.

Multiple investigations into her death concluded that the veteran reporter — a household name in the region — was shot by a member of the Israel Defense Forces, which said its troops were in the area “to arrest suspects in terrorist activities.” Some of those in-depth analyses, including one by CNN, said there was evidence that Abu Akleh — who was wearing a vest marked “Press” — was deliberately targeted.

Israeli authorities deny that any soldier shot intentionally at the journalist. Abu Akleh’s case has been submitted to the International Criminal Court by the Palestinian Authority, her family, and Al Jazeera.

Learn more about Abu Akleh