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.

  
A Palestinian youth takes pictures with his phone during an anti-Hamas protest, calling for an end to the war with Israel, in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza on March 26, 2025.

Gaza journalists speak out about Hamas intimidation, threats, assaults

When Gazan journalist Tawfiq Abu Jarad received a phone call from a Hamas security agent warning him not to cover a protest, he readily complied, having been assaulted by Hamas-affiliated forces once before.     The April 27 women’s anti-war demonstration in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahia was small but significant — one of several recent protests criticizing…

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A mural of slain of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on a wall in Gaza City in 2022.

Documentary names soldier it says killed Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022

New York, May 8, 2025—As the third anniversary of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh’s murder nears, a documentary offering new evidence about her killing highlights the failure of American and international authorities in investigating the case and securing justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. The documentary “Who Killed Shireen?”, produced by U.S.-based media…

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Palestinians inspect damage to a tent housing journalists after it was hit by an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza on April 7, 2025. (Photo: Reuters/Hatem Khaled)

Israel strikes journalists’ tent in Gaza; 2 killed, 8 injured

New York, April 7, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists denounces Israel’s targeted airstrike that hit a media tent in southern Gaza on Monday, killing two journalists and injuring eight others, and calls on the international community to act to stop Israel killing Palestinian journalists. The airstrike on the tent housing journalists in the grounds of…

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Hamdan Ballal, left, and Rachel Szor, winners of the best documentary feature film award for "No Other Land," attend the Governors Ball after the Oscars on March 2, 2025, in Los Angeles.

Oscar-winning Palestinian ‘No Other Land’ director assaulted in West Bank

Beirut, March 25, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the masked Israeli settlers who assaulted Palestinian documentary film director Hamdan Ballal and the Israeli soldiers who arrested him in the occupied West Bank on Monday to be held to account. Ballal, who was freed on Tuesday, was one of four co-directors of “No Other…

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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.

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

Beirut, March 24, 2025—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…

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A relative mourns over the body of one of five Palestinian journalists killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City's Al-Aqsa Hospital on December 26, 2024.

CPJ calls on EU to ensure media access and justice after Gaza ceasefire

Brussels, January 24, 2025–European Union officials and foreign ministers must seize the opportunity provided by the Gaza ceasefire at January 27’s Foreign Affairs Council meeting to ensure that a free press can prevail, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. CPJ urges the EU to call for independent investigations into the deliberate targeting of journalists…

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CPJ welcomes reports of Gaza ceasefire, calls for media access and war crimes investigations

Beirut, January 15, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Wednesday’s reports of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and calls on authorities to grant unconditional access to journalists and independent human rights experts to investigate crimes committed against the media during the 15-month long war.  “Journalists have been paying the highest price…

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VPNs, training, and mental health workshops: How CPJ helped journalist safety in 2024

Haitian journalist Jean Marc Jean was covering an anti-government protest in Port-au-Prince in February 2024 when he was struck in the face by a gas canister fired by police into the crowd. One of at least five journalists injured while covering civil unrest in the country that month, Jean arrived at the hospital with a…

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A military vehicle moves in a street outside the building where the Al Jazeera office is located, in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 22, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman - RC2F5AA82Z43

CPJ urges Palestinian Authority to lift ban on Al Jazeera’s operations in West Bank

The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a decision by the Palestinian Authority to suspend Al Jazeera’s operations in the West Bank. “Governments resort to censoring news outlets when they have something to hide,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “The Palestinian Authority should reverse its decision to suspend Al Jazeera’s operations and allow journalists to report freely without fear…

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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 strike kills 5 Al-Quds Al-Youm TV journalists in central Gaza

Beirut, December 26, 2024—Israeli forces killed five journalists and media workers with Al-Quds Al-Youm TV, a channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group, in a Thursday 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…

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