Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory / Middle East & North Africa

See CPJ’s data on journalists and media workers killed the Israel Gaza war here.

  
Israel's Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi confers with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Under the radar: Israel steps up censorship and suppression of independent reporting

Two years into Israel’s genocide in Gaza, press freedom inside the country has reached a breaking point. Journalists report escalating censorship, harassment, and self-censorship that, they say, now functions as “part of the war effort.” Independent reporting has sharply declined, leaving the Israeli public with a distorted view of the conflict. An October 2025 report…

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A man mourns over the body of Palestinian media worker Ahmed Abu Mutair, killed in an Israeli strike in the town of Zuwaida in the central Gaza Strip on October 19, 2025., nine days after a ceasefire agreement took effect. (Photo: AFP/Bashar Taleb)

Press killings in 2025 equal record high of 126 killed in 2024

New York, December 10, 2025一With more than three weeks still to go to the end of the year, the number of journalists and media workers killed worldwide in 2025 already equals 2024’s record figures, data gathered by the Committee to Protect Journalists shows. Led by Israel’s attacks on journalists in Gaza, Iran, and Yemen, the…

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An Israeli soldier is photographed during a military escort looking out from an Israeli military outpost within the borders of the 'yellow line' in the Shujaiya neighborhood in the eastern part of Gaza City in the Gaza Strip, November 5, 2025.

‘Not journalism – theater’: Inside Israel’s press tours to Gaza

Nazareth, December 3, 2025 — Foreign correspondents entering Gaza under Israeli military escort describe conditions that prevent independent reporting and reinforce longstanding Committee to Protect Journalist concerns: escorted visits are not meaningful access and cannot satisfy Israel’s obligations under international law to enable independent newsgathering. Since the Israel-Gaza war began in October 2023, Israel has…

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The RSF advanced into El Fasher in late October after besieging the city for 18 months.

Sudanese journalist Taj al-Sir Ahmed Suleiman killed by RSF paramilitary in EL-Fasher

New York, December 2, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for an urgent investigation into the killing of journalist Taj al-Sir Ahmed Suleiman, director of the Sudan News Agency (SUNA) office in Sudan’s western city of El-Fasher, after reports that fighters from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces executed him and his brother in their home….

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CPJ has provided more than $500,000 in humanitarian and professional assistance to Gaza’s press corps during the latest war.

CPJ’s lifeline for Palestinian journalists in Gaza

New York, December 2, 2025 — Since what human rights groups and UN experts agree is a genocide in Gaza began in October 2023, the Committee to Protect Journalists has worked relentlessly to sustain the journalists documenting the deadliest war for the press ever recorded.  CPJ has spent more than $500,000 to provide both humanitarian…

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Journalists inside the Press House headquarters in Gaza City during the last war.

Amid the loss of war, this media center stands by Gaza’s free press

For years, Bilal Jadallah was the quiet force defending independent journalism in the Gaza Strip — a mentor, protector, and the architect of rare safe spaces for Palestinian journalists working under constant threat. When he was killed in an Israeli strike on November 19, 2023, early on in the latest Israel-Gaza war, the loss reverberated…

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Soldiers lock a gate from the inside at Sde Teiman detention facility, after Israeli military police arrived at the site as part of an investigation into the suspected abuse of a Palestinian detainee.

Israeli journalist faces threats after reporting alleged sexual abuse of prisoner

Washington, DC, November 17, 2025 – The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores the escalating threats and harassment against Channel 12 Israeli journalist Guy Peleg in apparent retaliation for his reporting on the alleged abuse of a prisoner at an Israeli detention facility. Following his August 2024 exposé, which aired a leaked video allegedly showing Israeli…

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Reuters journalist Raneen Sawafta receives medical care following an Israeli settler9 attack near Nablus on November 8, 2025.

Surging Israeli settler violence hurts West Bank journalists

With settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank spiking, journalists are also facing more frequent and severe attacks.  So far in 2025, the Committee to Protect Journalists has documented 11 attack incidents involving at least 23 Palestinian and international journalists by Israeli settlers — some alongside soldiers — compared with one attack on…

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The Dome of the Rock is seen behind Israeli security forces after clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians at al-Aqsa Mosque over visits by Jews to the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City in 2021.

Palestinian journalists targeted with Ramadan bans, arrests at Al-Aqsa holy site

Nazareth, November 4, 2025—Israeli police banned at least 10 Palestinian journalists from Jerusalem’s disputed Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during Ramadan this year, CPJ has found, in what many view as a deliberate effort to censor coverage of the holy site. Intimidatory tactics against the press have increased in the two years since the start of the…

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CPJ calls for transparent US investigation into killing of Shireen Abu Akleh

New York, October 28, 2025 — The Committee to Protect Journalists renewed its call for an independent and transparent investigation into Israel’s killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, after a news report suggested the United States watered down its conclusions in an assessment of the circumstances surrounding her death. Abu Akleh, one of the…

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