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 screenshot of a news segment. Images include the struck car of the journalists, the two journalists in blue press vests, and a third reporter speaking live. Text on screen reads "Al Jazeera Journalists Killed In Gaza" and "Ismail Al Ghoul and Rami Al Refee Targeted In Strike."

Al Jazeera journalists Ismail Al Ghoul and Rami Al Refee killed in Gaza

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Israel to explain the killing of Al Jazeera Gaza correspondent Ismail Al Ghoul and camera operator Rami Al Refee in an Israeli airstrike west of Gaza City on Wednesday. “CPJ is dismayed by the news that Al Jazeera TV reporter Ismail Al Ghoul and cameraman Rami Al Refee…

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U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on October 18, 2023. The two are set to meet again on July 23, 2024 in Washington, D.C., and CPJ and other rights groups are urging the President and other lawmakers to push Netanyahu to improve press freedom and address rights abuses against journalists. (Photo: AFP/Brendan Smialowski)

CPJ, partners call on Biden to raise press freedom issues with Netanyahu

The Committee to Protect Journalists and nine other rights groups sent a letter Monday calling on U.S. President Joe Biden to press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on journalist killings and media access in Gaza.  The letter urged Biden to ensure that Netanyahu takes steps to facilitate press freedom and journalist safety in Israel and…

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Al-Jazeera journalist Wael Al Dahdouh holds the hand of his son Hamza, who also worked for Al-Jazeera and who was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Gaza on January 7, 2024.

Photos: Israel-Gaza war takes unprecedented toll on journalists

The Israel-Gaza war has been devastating for civilians, including journalists covering the conflict. While a few conflicts have taken the lives of hundreds of journalists over a period of years, no other war has taken so many journalists’ lives in such a short time span, according to CPJ data that has been gathered since 1992. Here…

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Israeli nationalists, including far-right activists, shout and dance at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem on June 5, 2024, during the Jerusalem Day Flag March. (Photo: AFP/Gil Cohen-Magen)

Two journalists harassed, assaulted and detained during Flag March in Jerusalem

New York, June 6, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the harassment and assault of Palestinian journalist Saif Kwasmi and Israeli journalist Nir Hasson during yesterday’s Jerusalem Day Flag March and urged Israeli authorities to identify the attackers and hold them to account. During the annual Jerusalem Day Flag March, which commemorates…

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Palestinian journalist Abu Bakr Bashir covers a Japanese cultural event in Khan Yunis, Gaza, for Japan’s JIJI PRESS. (Photo: Courtesy of Abu Bakr Bashir)

I was a journalist in Gaza. The place I call home is gone now.

I was 13 when my father moved our family from Libya back to my parents’ hometown of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. It was 1994, a time of optimism. Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization had signed the Oslo Accords and Palestinians were heading toward an independent state. Gaza, with its successful businesspeople and its…

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FAQ: How CPJ documents press killings in the Israel-Gaza war

In accordance with its longstanding methodology, CPJ has tracked and documented the cases of members of the press killed in relation to their work since 1992. This includes each journalist and media worker killed since the Israel-Gaza war began on October 7, 2023. CPJ’s rigorous methodology has been widely cited by United Nations bodies, government…

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Q&A: Journalist Shrouq Al Aila on what cameras can’t show about the war in Gaza

Gaza journalists Shrouq Al Aila and Roshdi Sarraj were on a work trip in Saudi Arabia last fall when their home became a war zone. The married couple quickly returned to Gaza to report and to be with their community. But Sarraj, the founder of local production company Ain Media, would only manage to produce…

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Israeli authorities confiscate AP equipment broadcasting live feed of Gaza

Update: AP reported that Israeli authorities said they would return the equipment after widespread backlash from press freedom advocates and a White House request. The live feed was restored Wednesday morning. Beirut, May 21, 2024 — Israeli authorities must return the equipment they confiscated from The Associated Press in southern Israel and stop harassing and censoring journalists covering…

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CPJ welcomes ICC warrant applications for Hamas and Israeli leaders

New York, May 20, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the International Criminal Court’s announcement on Monday that it was seeking arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity. “The ICC’s application for arrest warrants for crimes against humanity in Israel and Palestine recognizes atrocities committed against civilians,”…

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CPJ calls on FBI to release timeline for conclusion of Shireen Abu Akleh investigation

Washington, D.C., May 10, 2024—Two years after the Israeli military killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, the Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply alarmed at the continued lack of accountability in the case. CPJ calls on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to release a timeline for the conclusion of its now 18-month…

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