The Israel-Gaza war has taken a severe toll on journalists since Hamas launched its unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7 and Israel declared war on the militant Palestinian group, launching strikes on the blockaded Gaza Strip.
CPJ is investigating all reports of journalists and media workers killed, injured, or missing in the war, which has led to the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.
As of March 19, 2024, CPJ’s preliminary investigations showed at least 95 journalists and media workers were among the more than 32,000 killed since the war began on October 7—with more than 31,000 Palestinian deaths in Gaza and the West Bank and 1,200 deaths in Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told Reuters and Agence France Press news agencies in October that it could not guarantee the safety of their journalists operating in the Gaza Strip, after they had sought assurances that their journalists would not be targeted by Israeli strikes, according to a Reuters report.
Journalists in Gaza face particularly high risks as they try to cover the conflict during the Israeli ground assault, including devastating Israeli airstrikes, disrupted communications, supply shortages, and extensive power outages.
As of March 19:
CPJ is also investigating numerous unconfirmed reports of other journalists being killed, missing, detained, hurt, or threatened, and of damage to media offices and journalists’ homes.
“CPJ emphasizes that journalists are civilians doing important work during times of crisis and must not be targeted by warring parties,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “Journalists across the region are making great sacrifices to cover this heart-breaking conflict. Those in Gaza, in particular, have paid, and continue to pay, an unprecedented toll and face exponential threats. Many have lost colleagues, families, and media facilities, and have fled seeking safety when there is no safe haven or exit.”
The list published here includes names based on information obtained from CPJ’s sources in the region and media reports. It includes all journalists* involved in news-gathering activity. It is unclear whether all of these journalists were covering the conflict at the time of their deaths, but CPJ has included them in our count as we investigate their circumstances. The list is being updated on a regular basis.
March 5, 2024
Muhammad Salama
Salama, a Palestinian journalist who worked as a host for the Hamas affiliated Al-Aqsa TV channel, was killed with his family in an Israeli airstrike on his home in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, according to several media reports, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and the Turkish owned Anadolu Agency.
CPJ wasn’t immediately able to specify the number of family members killed with Salama. A report by the Qatari funded Al-Araby TV in the area showed damage from the airstrikes on the residential area, and Al-Araby’s reporter on the ground, Bassel Khalaf, said at least 6 people were pulled from under the rubble, while others remain missing. A witness in the area told the channel that the family was having dinner when they were killed.
According to Al-Aqsa Voice radio and the Egypt based Al-Bawaba News, Salama was buried in Gaza on March 6, 2024.
February 23, 2024
Mohamed Yaghi
Yaghi, a 30-year-old freelance photojournalist who worked with multiple media outlets, including Al-Jazeera, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Az-Zawayda town in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, along with 36 family members, including his wife and daughter, according to Al-Jazeera, the International Federation of Journalists, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.
February 15, 2024
Zayd Abu Zayed
Abu Zayed, a 35-year-old director of the local Quran Radio channel, which is owned by the Islamic University of Gaza, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Al-Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, according to the Qatar funded Al-Araby TV, the Palestinian Authority run news agency Wafa, and the Turkish Anadolu Agency.
February 12, 2024
Alaa Al-Hams
Al-Hams, a 35-year-old Palestinian journalist for the local Palestinian News Agency SND succumbed to her injuries after being seriously wounded in an Israeli airstrike on her family house in Rafah city, southern Gaza Strip, which resulted in the tragic loss of ten members of her family on December 2, 2023, according to Palestine Chronicle, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS), and the Cairo-Based Ahram online.
Angam Ahmad Edwan
Edwan, a Palestinian journalist who worked for the Libyan TV channel February, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on her home in Jabalia city, northern Gaza Strip, according to her channel, the Cairo-Based Ahram online , the Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency, and Palestine Chronicle.
February 11, 2024
Yasser Mamdouh El-Fady
Mamdouh El-Fady, a 40-year-old journalist for the Islamic Jihad affiliated Kan’an news agency, was killed by an Israeli sniper at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, according to multiple media reports, and the Beirut based press freedom group SKeyes.
February 8, 2024
Nafez Abdel Jawad
Abdel Jawad, a Palestinian director for the official Palestine Television station, Palestine TV, was killed along with his son in an Israeli missile strike on the house they were staying in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Additionally, the missile killed 14 people, including 5 children, according to CNN, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS), and the Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency. Responding to an inquiry from CNN on the killing of Abdel Jawad, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated that it “takes all operationally feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians, including journalists. The IDF has never, and will never, deliberately target journalists.” They added that they are not aware of any strikes at these coordinates.
February 6, 2024
Rizq Al-Gharabli
Al-Gharabli, a 40-year-old director of the Hamas affiliated Palestinian Information Center, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his family’s home in Khan Yunis, according to media reports, the Palestinian Information Center, SKeyes, and Wafa.
The Palestinian Information Center said that Al-Gharabli was its Gaza office director since 2015, and worked as a writer and editor until his death.
January 29, 2024
Mohammed Atallah
Atallah, a 24-year-old Palestinian editor for the local Al-Resalah news website and a writer for the regional independent website Raseef22, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beach refugee camp in northern Gaza City, along with an unidentified number of family members, according to a tweet by Raseef22 that included his last voice message, the local news agency Safa, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and the International Federation of Journalists.
Ayman Sharrouf, Raseef22’s political editor, told CPJ that Atallah “wrote for Raseef22 under his name and another pseudonym. He was particularly interested in the daily life stories of the Gazans, despite the siege on Gaza, the corruption, and the narrow political interests in the strip. When the war started, we started collaborating, and he wrote 3 pieces, but he lived in the north where there was intense bombing, and one of the Israeli airstrikes hit his parents’ house, which killed one of his brothers and all of his family members.”
Sharrouf told CPJ that “Atallah evacuated after surviving a lot of near-death situations. In his last correspondence with us, he told me that he’s safe and he wants to resume working soon, but I later learned about his death from the news.” Sharrouf added, “Mohammed was a very professional journalist. He wanted to relay the voices of the people. He worked hard on his pieces and was very keen on factual reporting of the daily life of Gaza’s people, despite all the challenges that a journalist like him faces. Unfortunately, he was killed before he got to do what he wanted in journalism; and the most horrific heartbreaking part was that he thought he would survive.”
January 25, 2024
Iyad El-Ruwagh
El-Ruwagh, a Palestinian journalist who worked as a host for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa Voice Radio, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Nuseirat camp in northern Gaza, along with four of his children, according to multiple media reports, a tweet by his outlet, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes.
El-Ruwagh was buried on January 26, according to Al-Jazeera. Prior to his death, he posted on Facebook about his family’s dire conditions, asking for someone who was leaving Gaza to take his toddler to his wife, who fled to Sinai, Egypt, with his son Mohamed following a previous airstrike that severely injured him. After El-Ruwagh’s death, his wife published Facebook posts about him and her slain children: Loay, Nada, Yazan, and the toddler, Ahmed.
January 14, 2024
Yazan al-Zuweidi
Al-Zuweidi, a Palestinian journalist and camera operator for the privately owned Cairo-based broadcaster Al-Ghad, was killed, along with his brother and cousin, in an Israeli airstrike on Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza while on his way to see what had happened to his home in the aftermath of heavy bombing, according to his employer, the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes, The New Arab, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.
Al-Zuweidi, 27, had been working with Al-Ghad for six years, and covered the war and various other events in Gaza, according to the broadcaster. Al-Ghad said that Al-Zuweidi didn’t stop reporting on the ongoing war; he kept filming from northern Gaza and sending footage to the channel after it was impossible for him to evacuate south to Rafah.
January 11, 2024
Mohamed Jamal Sobhi Al-Thalathini
Al-Thalathini, a Palestinian journalist who worked for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds Al-Youm broadcaster, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his home in south Gaza, according to the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa Voice Radio, the Palestinian Authority-run broadcaster Palestine Today, and the Qatari-funded newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
January 10, 2024
Ahmed Bdeir
Bdeir, a Palestinian journalist working for the local news website Bawabat al-Hadaf, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Yunis, close to the Aqsa Martyrs hospital. Bdeir was standing in front of the journalists’ tent at the hospital gate and died when a shrapnel hit him, according to Al-Jazeera, The New Arab, and the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes. His outlet said that he worked relentlessly during the war to cover the news. Bawabat al-Hadaf is affiliated with The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
January 9, 2024
Heba Al-Abadla
Al-Abadla, a 30-year-old journalist and host for the local Al-Azhar radio station, owned by Al-Azhar University in Gaza, and the co-founder of the Social Media Club-Palestine, was killed along with her daughter Judy and several family members in an Israeli airstrike on Khan Yunis, according to media reports, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, the New Arab, Wafa, and SKeyes.
At Social Media Club-Palestine, Al-Abadla held training and conferences on technology related matters, including content writing and journalism.
January 8, 2024
Abdallah Iyad Breis
Breis, a 26-year-old journalist who led the photography section for the Rawafed educational channel, owned by the Hamas government’s ministry of education, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his home in Khan Yunis, according to media reports, SKeyes, and Wafa.
January 7, 2024
Hamza Al Dahdouh
Al Dahdouh, a Palestinian journalist and camera operator for Al-Jazeera, and the son of Al-Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael Al Dahdouh, was killed in an Israeli drone strike along with freelance journalist Mustafa Thuraya, according to Al-Jazeera Arabic. They were driving to an assignment in southern Gaza when the strike occurred, according to Al-Jazeera and the BBC.
Mustafa Thuraya
Thuraya, a Palestinian freelance videographer working for Agence France-Presse (AFP), was killed in an Israeli drone strike along with Al-Jazeera journalist Hamza Al Dahdouh, according to Al-Jazeera Arabic. They were driving to an assignment in southern Gaza when the strike occurred, according to Al-Jazeera, BBC, and AFP.
January 5, 2024
Akram ElShafie
ElShafie, a Palestinian journalist working as a reporter and editor for the Palestinian press agency Safa died after sustaining injuries months before on October 30, from an Israeli bullet, according to his outlet Safa, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS), and Al-Jazeera. PJS said in a statement that ElShafie required medical attention after sustaining the life-threatening injury, and that it submitted a request to evacuate the journalists from Gaza for that purpose, but it was declined by Israel, according to the syndicate. The syndicate also stated that 25 journalists in Gaza are injured and require immediate medical attention.
Safa said that ElShafie, 53, was injured badly by Israeli bullets when he was on his way to check up on his house, and that he spent the last two months in hospitals. It added that ElShafie started working with Safa in 2019, and that the last report he wrote was about the cooperation and solidarity between Gazan refugees in the war.
December 29, 2023
Jabr Abu Hadrous
Abu Hadrous, a Palestinian journalist and a reporter for the Hamas-affiliated Quds Al-Youm broadcaster, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his home in Nuseirat refugee camp, northern Gaza, along with seven members of his family, according to Al-Jazeera, Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen, and the privately owned government-affiliated Al-Ghad newspaper in Jordan.
December 28, 2023
Ahmed Khaireddine
Khaireddine, a Palestinian journalist and a cameraman for the Hamas-affiliated Quds Al-Youm TV, and a reporter for the Hamas-affiliated Quds feed, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his family home in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, along with 12 family members, including his uncle Mohamed Khaireddine, according to the Palestinian Authority-run broadcaster Palestine Today, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and Al-Jazeera.
Khaireddine’s brother, Basil, who was a reporter for the Palestine Today broadcaster, spoke about his brother’s killing to the channel, in a video that spread virally. Basil said that Ahmed wanted to take a day off work for the first time in 82 days and didn’t want to leave the house to report when Basil asked him to go with him, adding: “He wanted to rest, but apparently his rest was forever.”
December 24, 2023
Mohamad Al-Iff
Al-Iff, a Palestinian journalist and photographer for the Hamas government-owned local newspaper and news agency Al-Rai, was killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, northern Gaza, along with an unspecified number of family members, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes, the Qatar-funded London-based pan Arab newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, and the Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network. Al-Iff’s cousin, journalist Mohamed Azzaytouniyah, was killed in the same strikes, according to a tweet by Al-Iff’s cousin Hammam.
Mohamed Azzaytouniyah
Azzaytouniyah, a Palestinian media worker and a sound engineer for the Hamas government-owned local radio Al-Rai was killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, northern Gaza, along with unspecified number of family members including his father, according to a tweet by his brother Hammam, the outlet, the Qatar-funded London-based pan Arab newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, and the Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network. His cousin, journalist Mohamad Al-Iff, was killed in the same strikes.
Ahmad Jamal Al Madhoun
Al Madhoun, a Palestinian journalist and deputy director of the Hamas government-owned local newspaper and news agency Al-Rai and the director of visual content at the agency, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on northern Gaza, according to the Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network, the Qatar-funded London-based pan Arab newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, and Anadolu Agency.
December 23, 2023
Mohamed Naser Abu Huwaidi
Abu Huwaidi, a 29-year-old Palestinian journalist working for the privately owned Al-Istiklal newspaper, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Shajaiah area in northern Gaza while covering the aftermath of the airstrikes, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, the Qatar-funded London-based pan Arab newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes, and the Cairo-based independent website Daaarb.
December 22, 2023
Mohamed Khalifeh
Khalifeh, a media worker and director at the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV channel was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his home in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, along his wife and three of his children, according to his outlet, Anadolu Agency, the Lebanese Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen TV, and the privately owned news channel Al-Ghad TV.
December 19, 2023
Adel Zorob
Zorob, a Palestinian freelance journalist who worked with multiple media outlets, including the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa Voice Radio, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his home in Rafah, southern Gaza, along with 25 family members, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, the Middle East Eye, the Palestinian Authority-run news agency Wafa, and the independent Wattan news agency.
Zorob posted Gaza war news on his Facebook page and on WhatsApp news groups. The last news message was sent directly before his death, according to a WhatsApp screenshot CPJ viewed. The Zorob family were among the few Palestinians in Gaza who remained in their own homes in a war that has displaced some 1.9 million people — more than 80% of the territory’s population, according to the Associated Press.
December 18, 2023
Abdallah Alwan
Alwan, a Palestinian media worker and voice-over specialist who contributed to multiple media outlets including the Al-Jazeera owned platform Midan, Mugtama magazine, and Al-Jazeera, and was a radio host for the Islamic University’s Holy Quran Radio, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his home in Jabalia, according to his outlet Midan, the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa Radio, the local Palestinian newspaper Al-Hadath, and Amman-based Roya TV. In his last Facebook post on December 17, Alwan wrote that “On every morning, we say that last night was the worst night in the war… All days are worse than each other. This briefly describes the war.” On November 30, Alwan posted photos of damage to his home by Israeli bombing, saying two of his nieces were killed in the strikes.
December 17, 2023
Assem Kamal Moussa
Moussa, a Palestinian journalist who produced visual and written news reports for the local privately owned news website Palestine Now, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, according to his outlet, Lebanon’s Hezbollah-affiliated broadcaster Al-Mayadeen, and the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa radio channel.
Haneen Kashtan
Kashtan, a Palestinian journalist who contributed to multiple media outlets including the local Fatah-affiliated Al-Kofiya TV and the local privately owned Baladna TV, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Nuseirat refugee camp in northern Gaza, along with other family members, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, Al-Jazeera, and the Cairo-based Youm7.
December 15, 2023
Samer Abu Daqqa
Abu Daqqa, a camera operator for Al-Jazeera Arabic, was killed by a drone strike while covering the aftermath of nightly Israeli strikes on a United Nations school sheltering displaced people in the center of Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, according to Al-Jazeera and Reuters news agency. He was trapped with other injured people in the school, which was surrounded by Israeli forces, and was unable to be evacuated for treatment. His colleague, Al-Jazeera bureau chief Wael Al Dahdouh, was injured in the same strike.
December 9, 2023
Duaa Jabbour
Jabbour, a Palestinian freelance journalist who worked with the local website Eyes Media Network, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on her home along with her husband and children in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes, Anadolu Agency, and the Qatar-funded London-based Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. In her last Facebook post, Jabbour wrote: “To survive everyday is exhausting.”
Ola Atallah
Atallah, a Palestinian freelance journalist who contributed to multiple media outlets, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the house in which she and her family were taking refuge, in the El-Daraj area of Gaza City, northern Gaza, according to Arabi 21, Anadolu Agency, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate. Those sources said that Atallah was killed with nine members of her family, including her brother and her uncles.
On November 27, Atallah wrote an article for the Al-Morasel website about life in Gaza during the war, describing the destruction and damage to her neighborhood and city. Atallah worked as a reporter for Anadolu Agency until 2017. Atallah was well-known on social media, and her last tweet on December 8 asked, “How many more nights of terror and death does Gaza have to count?”
December 3, 2023
Hassan Farajallah
Farajallah, who held a senior position with the Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds TV, was killed by Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and the International Federation of Journalists.
Shaima El-Gazzar
A Palestinian journalist for Al-Majedat network, El-Gazzar was killed along with her family members in an Israeli airstrike on Rafah city, southern Gaza, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and the Cairo-based media outlet Darb.
December 1, 2023
Abdullah Darwish
A Palestinian cameraman for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV, Darwish was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, according to the Amman-based news outlet Roya News, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and the International Federation of Journalists.
Montaser Al-Sawaf
Al-Sawaf, a Palestinian cameraman for Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, was killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, according to Anadolu Agency, Middle East Monitor, and the International Federation of Journalists.
Adham Hassouna
Hassouna, a Palestinian freelance journalist and media professor at Gaza and Al-Aqsa universities, was killed, along with several family members in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian news network SHF, the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.
November 24, 2023
Mostafa Bakeer
Bakeer, a Palestinian journalist and cameraperson for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza, according to the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa radio, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and the International Federation of Journalists.
November 23, 2023
Mohamed Mouin Ayyash
Ayyash, a Palestinian journalist and a freelance photographer, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his home in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, along with 20 members of his family, according to the Amman-based news outlet Roya News, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa.
November 22, 2023
Assem Al-Barsh
Al-Barsh, a sound engineer working for the Gaza’s Hamas government owned Al-Rai radio and freelancing for other local radio stations, was shot dead by Israeli sniper fire when he was on his way home on November 22, 2023, in the Al-Saftawi area north of Gaza City, according to news reports and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.
According to a news report by Radio An-Naja7, Al-Barsh helped Radio An-Naja7 develop a podcast entitled “The Identity Podcast” that focuses on the values of dialogue and cultural and religious diversity in the Arab world. In the days prior to Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, Al-Barsh set up a small radio studio at his home, where he was a sound engineer for the podcast.
In 2021, Al-Barsh also hosted and produced the program “With You” for Radio Namaa, during which listeners could dedicate songs or send greetings to friends or loved ones.
Mohamed Nabil Al-Zaq
Al-Zaq, a Palestinian journalist and a social media manager for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds TV, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Shejaiya in northern Gaza, according to the Amman-based news outlet Roya News, the Ramallah-based news website Wattan TV, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and the International Federation of Journalists.
November 21, 2023
Jamal Mohamed Haniyeh
Haniyeh, a reporter for the sports news website Amwaj, was killed along with other family members and in-laws in an Israeli airstrike on his home in Gaza City, according to news reports and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.
According to the same reports, Haniyeh was the grandson of Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh and also worked as a radio engineer. Haniyeh covered the football league in Gaza, as well as other stories, including the visit by Abdel Salam Haniyeh, the assistant secretary of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, to the injured journalist Ashraf Abu Amra while he was receiving medical treatment in Turkey for injuries suffered in September 2023 while covering a Gaza border protest.
Farah Omar
Omar, a Lebanese reporter for the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen TV channel, was killed by an Israeli strike in the Tayr Harfa area in southern Lebanon, close to the border with Israel, according to Al-Mayadeen, Al-Jazeera, and the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes. She was reporting on escalating hostilities across the Lebanese-Israeli border and gave a live update an hour before her death.
Rabih Al Maamari
Al Maamari, a Lebanese cameraperson for the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen TV channel, was killed by an Israeli strike in the Tayr Harfa area in southern Lebanon, close to the border with Israel, along with his colleague Farah Omar, according to Al-Mayadeen, Al-Jazeera, and the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes.
November 20, 2023
Ayat Khadoura
Khadoura, a Palestinian freelance journalist and podcast presenter, was killed along with an unknown number of family members in an Israeli airstrike on her home in Beit Lahya in northern Gaza, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes, the news website Arabi 21, and London-based Al-Ghad TV. Khadoura shared videos on social media about the situation in Gaza, including a November 6 video, which she called “my last message to the world” where she said, “We had big dreams but our dream now is to be killed in one piece so they know who we are.”
November 19, 2023
Bilal Jadallah
Jadallah, director of Press House-Palestine, a non-profit which supports the development of independent Palestinian media, was killed in his car in Gaza in an Israeli airstrike, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, Al Qahera News, and the Cairo-based Youm7.
November 18, 2023
Abdelhalim Awad
A Palestinian media worker and driver for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV, Awad was killed in a strike on his home in the Gaza Strip, according to the London-based Al-Ghad TV, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes. Awad had been working full-time since the beginning of the war in Khan Yunis and had left to visit his family last week, his colleague Ziad AlMokayyed told CPJ via messaging app.
Sari Mansour
Mansour, director of the Quds News Network, and his colleague and friend Hassouneh Salim were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, according to the Cairo-based Elwatan news, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, Al-Jazeera, and Anadolu Agency.
Hassouneh Salim
Salim, a Palestinian freelance photojournalist, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, along with his colleague and friend Sari Mansour, according to the Amman-based news outlet Roya News, Al-Jazeera, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.
Mostafa El Sawaf
El Sawaf, a Palestinian writer and analyst who contributed to the local news website MSDR News, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his home along with his wife and two of his sons in Shawa Square, Gaza City, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and the Cairo-based Youm7.
Amro Salah Abu Hayah
A Palestinian media worker in the broadcast department of the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV channel, Abu Hayah was killed in a strike in Gaza, according to the Amman-based news outlet Roya News and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.
Mossab Ashour
Ashour, a Palestinian photographer, was killed during an attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip but his death was not reported until November 18, soon after his body was discovered, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, TRT Arabi, and Anadolu Agency.
November 13, 2023
Ahmed Fatima
A photographer for the Egypt-based Al Qahera News TV and a media worker with Press House-Palestine, Fatima was killed in a strike in Gaza, according to Al Qahera News TV, the Egypt-based Ahram Online, the Palestinians Journalists’ Syndicate, and the Amman-based news outlet Roya News.
Yaacoub Al-Barsh
Al-Barsh, executive director of the local Namaa Radio, was killed after sustaining injuries on November 12 from an Israeli airstrike on his home in northern Gaza, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes, the Ramallah-based Palestinian news network SHFA, and the Palestinian press freedom group MADA.
November 10, 2023
Ahmed Al-Qara
Al-Qara, a photojournalist who worked for Al-Aqsa University and was also a freelancer, was killed in a strike at the entrance of Khuza’a town, east of the southern city of Khan Yunis, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and the Cairo-based Al-Dostor newspaper.
November 7, 2023
Yahya Abu Manih
A journalist with Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa radio channel, Abu Manih was killed in a strike in the Gaza strip, according to the Amman-based news outlet Roya News, Al-Jazeera, and the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes.
Mohamed Abu Hassira
Abu Hassira, a journalist for the Palestinian Authority-run Wafa news agency, was killed in a strike on his home in Gaza along with 42 family members, according to the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa, the London-based news website The New Arab, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.
November 5, 2023
Mohamed Al Jaja
Al Jaja was a media worker and the organizational development consultant at Press House-Palestine, which owns Sawa news agency in Gaza and promotes press freedom and independent media. He was killed in a strike on his home along with his wife and two daughters in the Al-Naser neighborhood in northern Gaza, according to the London-based news website The New Arab, the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.
November 2, 2023
Mohamad Al-Bayyari
Al-Bayyari, a Palestinian journalist with the Hamas affiliated Al-Aqsa TV channel, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City, according to the Amman-based news outlet Roya News, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and the International Federation of Journalists.
Mohammed Abu Hatab
A journalist and correspondent for the Palestinian Authority-funded broadcaster Palestine TV, Abu Hatab was killed along with 11 members of his family in an Israeli airstrike on their home in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa and the Amman-based news outlet Roya News.
November 1, 2023
Majd Fadl Arandas
A member of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate who worked for the news website Al-Jamaheer, Arandas was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes.
Iyad Matar
Matar, a journalist working for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV, was killed along with his mother in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, according to the Amman-based news outlet Roya News and the local channel Palestine Today.
October 31, 2023
Imad Al-Wahidi
A media worker and administrator for the Palestinian Authority-run Palestine TV channel, Al-Wahidi was killed with his family members in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, according to a statement issued by the channel, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.
Majed Kashko
Kashko, a media worker and the office director of the Palestinian Authority-run Palestine TV channel, was killed with his family members in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, according to a statement issued by the channel, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.
October 30, 2023
Nazmi Al-Nadim
Al-Nadim, a deputy director of finance and administration for Palestine TV, was killed with members of his family in a strike on his home in Zeitoun area, eastern Gaza, according to the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa and Egypt’s state-run Middle East News Agency.
October 27, 2023
Yasser Abu Namous
Palestinian journalist Yasser Abu Namous of Al-Sahel media organization was killed in a strike on his family home in Khan Yunis, Gaza, according to the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa, Al-Jazeera, and the Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds network.
October 26, 2023
Duaa Sharaf
Palestinian journalist Sharaf, host for the Hamas-affiliated Radio Al-Aqsa, was killed with her child in a strike on her home in the Yarmouk neighborhood in Gaza, according to Anadolu Agency and Middle East Monitor.
October 25, 2023
Jamal Al-Faqaawi
Al-Faqaawi, a Palestinian journalist for the Islamic Jihad-affiliated Mithaq Media Foundation, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his home in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, according to Al-Jazeera, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, the Palestinian News Network, and the International Federation of Journalists.
Saed Al-Halabi
Al-Halabi, a journalist for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, and Al-Jazeera.
Ahmed Abu Mhadi
A journalist for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV, Mhadi was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and Youm7.
Salma Mkhaimer
Mkhaimer, a freelance journalist, was killed alongside her child in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and the independent Egyptian online newspaper Mada Masr.
October 24, 2023
Ibrahim Marzouq
Ibrahim Marzouq, a Palestinian media worker for the logistics department of the Gaza Bureau of the Palestinian Authority-run broadcaster Palestine Today TV, was killed along with his family in an Israeli airstrike on his home in Gaza City´s Al-Tuffah neighborhood on October 24, 2023, according to his employer, and a report by the Beirut-based think tank Institute for Palestine Studies.
After Israeli warplanes bombed his home, he remained under the rubble until noon when medical teams were able to extract his body, according to the Institute for Palestine Studies. Marzouq had decided to stay at his home rather than leave for southern Gaza with his family as advised by the Israeli Army, the institute report said.
October 23, 2023
Mohammed Imad Labad
A journalist for the Al Resalah news website, Labad was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City, according to RT Arabic and the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa.
October 22, 2023
Roshdi Sarraj
A journalist and co-founder of Ain Media, a Palestinian company specializing in professional media services, Sarraj was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa and Sky News.
October 20, 2023
Roee Idan
On October 20, Israeli journalist Idan was declared dead after his body was recovered, according to The Times of Israel and the International Federation of Journalists. Idan, a photographer for the Israeli newspaper Ynet, was initially reported missing when his wife and daughter were killed in a Hamas attack on October 7 on Kibbutz Kfar Aza. CPJ confirmed that he was working on the day of the attack.
Mohammed Ali
A journalist from Al-Shabab Radio (Youth Radio), Ali was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and the Cairo-based Al-Dostor newspaper.
October 19, 2023
Khalil Abu Aathra
A videographer for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV, Abu Aathra was killed along with his brother in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, as reported by the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and the Amman-based news outlet Roya News.
October 18, 2023
Sameeh Al-Nady
A journalist and director for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV, Al-Nady was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and the Palestinian press agency Safa.
October 17, 2023
Mohammad Balousha
Balousha, a journalist and the administrative and financial manager of the local media channel “Palestine Today” office in Gaza, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Saftawi neighborhood in northern Gaza, reported Anadolu Agency and The Guardian.
Issam Bhar
Bhar, a journalist for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip, according to TRT Arabia and the Cairo-based Arabic newspaper Shorouk News.
October 16, 2023
Abdulhadi Habib
A journalist who worked for Al-Manara News Agency and HQ News Agency, Habib was killed along with several of his family members when a missile strike hit his house near the Zeitoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and the independent Palestinian news organization International Middle East Media Center.
October 14, 2023
Yousef Maher Dawas
Dawas, a contributing writer for Palestine Chronicle and a writer for We Are Not Numbers (WANN), a youth-led Palestinian nonprofit project, was killed in an Israeli missile strike on his family’s home in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia, according to WANN and Palestine Chronicle.
October 13, 2023
Salam Mema
The death of Mema, a freelance journalist, was confirmed on this date. Mema held the position of head of the Women Journalists Committee at the Palestinian Media Assembly, an organization committed to advancing media work for Palestinian journalists. Her body was recovered from the rubble three days after her home in the Jabalia refugee camp, situated in the northern Gaza Strip, was hit by an Israeli airstrike on October 10, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa.
Husam Mubarak
Mubarak, a journalist for the Hamas-affiliated Al Aqsa Radio, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group Skeyes and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.
Abdallah, a Beirut-based videographer for the Reuters news agency, was killed near the Lebanon border by shelling coming from the direction of Israel. Abdallah and several other journalists were covering the back-and-forth shelling near Alma Al-Shaab in southern Lebanon between Israeli forces and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.
October 12, 2023
Ahmed Shehab
A journalist for Sowt Al-Asra Radio (Radio Voice of the Prisoners), Shehab, along with his wife and three children, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his house in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, Palestinian press freedom group MADA, and the London-based news website The New Arab.
October 11, 2023
Mohamed Fayez Abu Matar
Abu Matar, a freelance photojournalist, was killed during an Israeli airstrike in Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa.
October 10, 2023
Saeed al-Taweel
Al-Taweel, editor-in-chief of the Al-Khamsa News website, was killed when Israeli warplanes struck an area housing several media outlets in Gaza City’s Rimal district, according to the U.K.-based newspaper, The Independent, Al Jazeera, and the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa.
Mohammed Sobh
Sobh, a photographer from Khabar news agency, was killed when Israeli warplanes struck an area housing several media outlets in Gaza City’s Rimal district, according to the U.K.-based newspaper The Independent, Al Jazeera, and the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa.
Hisham Alnwajha
Alnwajha, a journalist with Khabar news agency, was injured when Israeli warplanes struck an area housing several media outlets in Gaza City’s Rimal district, according to the U.K.-based newspaper The Independent, Al Jazeera, and the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa.
He died of his injuries later that day, according to the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and Palestinian news website AlWatan Voice.
October 8, 2023
Assaad Shamlakh
Shamlakh, a freelance journalist, was killed along with nine members of his family in an Israeli airstrike on their home in Sheikh Ijlin, a neighborhood in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Beirut-based advocacy group The Legal Agenda and BBC Arabic.
October 7, 2023
Yaniv Zohar
Zohar, an Israeli photographer working for the Hebrew-language daily newspaper Israel Hayom, was killed during a Hamas attack on Kibbutz Nahal Oz in southern Israel, along with his wife and two daughters, according to Israel Hayom and Israel National News. Israel Hayom’s editor-in-chief Omer Lachmanovitch told CPJ that Zohar was working on that day.
Mohammad Al-Salhi
Al-Salhi, a photojournalist working for the Fourth Authority news agency, was shot dead near a Palestinian refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa, and the Journalist Support Committee (JSC), a nonprofit which promotes the rights of the media in the Middle East.
Mohammad Jarghoun
Jarghoun, a journalist with Smart Media, was shot while reporting on the conflict in an area to the east of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the BBC and UNESCO.
Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi
Lafi, a photographer for Ain Media, was shot and killed at the Gaza Strip’s Erez Crossing into Israel, according to the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes, and Al-Jazeera.
As we continue to monitor the war in Israel/Gaza, journalists who have questions about their safety and security can contact us emergencies@cpj.org.
For more information, read:
These are available in multiple languages, including Arabic.
December 23, 2023
Khader Marquez
Marquez, a cameraman for Lebanon’s Hezbollah-owned TV channel Al-Manar was injured after shrapnel from an Israeli missile hit his car on the Khardali road of south Lebanon, injuring his left eye, according to Al-Manar correspondent Ali Shoeib, who was with Marquez, posted about the incident on social media, and spoke to the privately-owned Beirut-based Al-Jadeed TV. The incident also was reported by the privately owned Lebanese Annahar newspaper, the Beirut based press freedom group SKeyes, the National News Agency, and multiple news reports.
December 19, 2023
Islam Bader
Bader, a Palestinian reporter and presenter for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa channel, and a contributor to multiple media outlets including the Qatari-funded Al-Araby TV, was injured in the right shoulder and hip in an Israeli airstrike on Block 2 of the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza, on December 19, according to the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Araby TV, and Palestine TV. His colleague Mohamed Ahmed was injured in the same strike. A video posted by Al-Jazeera shows the two journalists being treated in Jabalia medical center after the attack. Another video posted by the local Palestine Post website shows Bader and Ahmed lying on the floor of the medical center frowning in pain.
Bader told Al-Araby TV that he was injured by three pieces of shrapnel in his shoulder, and hip.
Bader and Ahmed are among the few journalists still reporting from northern Gaza.
Mohamed Ahmed
Ahmed, a Palestinian reporter for the Hamas-affiliated Shehab agency and photographer for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa channel, was injured in the left thigh in an Israeli airstrike on Block 2 of the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza, on December 19, according to the London based pan Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Araby TV, and Palestine TV. His colleague Islam Bader was injured in the same strike. A video posted by Al-Jazeera shows the two journalists being treated in Jabalia medical center right after their injury. Another video posted by the local Palestine Post website shows Bader and Ahmed lying on the floor of the medical center frowning in pain.
December 16, 2023
Mohamed Balousha
Balousha, a reporter for the Emirati-owned Dubai-based Al Mashahd TV, was shot in the thigh while reporting on the war from northern Gaza on December 16, 2023. According to his outlet Al Mashhad, Al-Jazeera, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, the bullet was fired by an Israeli sniper. Balousha said in a video about his injury that he lost consciousness for about 30 minutes after “six hours of agony” and was roused by the nuzzling of cats he was feeding before the shooting. Al Mashhad said that Israeli forces intercepted the ambulances sent to evacuate him, delaying his transfer to a hospital for treatment.
In late November, Balousha broke a story that four premature babies left behind at al-Nasr Children’s Hospital died and their bodies had decomposed after Israel forced the staff to evacuate without ambulances. Balousha accused Israel of directly targeting him. “I was wearing everything to prove that I was a journalist, but they deliberately targeted me, and now I am struggling to get the treatment necessary to preserve my life,” he told The Washington Post.
December 15, 2023
Wael Al Dahdouh
The Gaza bureau chief for Al-Jazeera, Al Dahdouh was injured by a drone strike while covering the aftermath of nightly Israeli strikes on a UN school sheltering displaced people in the center of Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, according to reports by their Al-Jazeera, Middle East Eye, and Reuters. Dahdoh was hit with shrapnel in his hand and waist and treated at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. His colleague, camera operator Samer Abu Daqqa, was killed in the same strike.
Mustafa Alkharouf
Alkharouf, a photographer with the Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency, was covering Friday prayers near Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem on December 15 when a group of Israeli police and soldiers attacked him, according to Anadolu Agency, footage shared by The Union of Journalists in Israel, and the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa. Soldiers initially brandished their weapons at Alkharouf, punched him, and then threw him to the ground, kicking him. Alkharouf sustained severe blows, resulting in injuries to his face and body, and was transported by ambulance and treated at Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem.
November 18, 2023
Mohammed El Sawwaf
Mohammed El Sawwaf, an award-winning Palestinian film producer and director who founded the Gaza-based Alef Multimedia production company, was injured in an Israeli airstrike on his home in Shawa Square in Gaza City. The airstrike killed 30 members of his family, including his mother and his father, Mostafa Al Sawaf, who was also a journalist, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, Anadolu Agency, and TRT Arabic.
Montaser El Sawaf
Montaser El Sawaf, a Palestinian freelance photographer contributing to Anadolu Agency, was injured in the same Israeli airstrike that injured his brother, Mohammed El Sawwaf and killed their parents and 28 other family members, according to the Anadolu Agency, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and TRT Arabic.
November 13, 2023
Issam Mawassi
Al-Jazeera videographer Mawassi was injured after two Israeli missiles struck near journalists in Yaroun in southern Lebanon covering clashes, which also resulted in damage to the journalists’ cars in the area, according to multiple media reports, some of which show the journalists live on air the minute the second missile hit the area. CPJ reached out to Mawassi via a messaging app but didn’t receive any response.
October 13, 2023
Thaer Al-Sudani
Al-Sudani, a journalist for Reuters, was injured in the same attack that killed Abdallah near the border in southern Lebanon, Reuters said.
Maher Nazeh
Nazeh, a journalist for Reuters, was also injured in the same southern Lebanon attack.
Elie Brakhya
Brakhya, an Al-Jazeera TV staff member, was injured as well in the southern Lebanon shelling, Al-Jazeera TV said.
Carmen Joukhadar
Joukhadar, an Al-Jazeera TV reporter, was also wounded in the southern Lebanon attack.
Christina Assi
Assi, a photographer for the French news agency Agence France-Press (AFP), was injured in that same attack on southern Lebanon, according to AFP and France 24.
Dylan Collins
Dylan Collins, a video journalist for AFP, was also injured in the southern Lebanon shelling.
October 7, 2023
Ibrahim Qanan
Qanan, a correspondent for Al-Ghad channel, was injured by shrapnel in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, according to MADA and JSC.
October 7, 2023
Oded Lifschitz
Lifschitz, a lifelong Israeli journalist who wrote for Al-Hamishmar for many years and was also a Haaretz contributor, was reported missing from Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel. Oded’s wife was one of the two hostages released by Hamas on October 24, 2023, according to The Times of Israel and The Telegraph.
Nidal Al-Wahidi
A Palestinian photographer from the Al-Najah channel, Al-Wahidi was reported missing by MADA. Later, Al-Wahidi’s family informed the media that the journalist had been detained by the Israeli army.
Haitham Abdelwahid
A Palestinian photographer from the Ain Media agency, Abdelwahid was also reported missing by MADA.
Clarifications and corrections:
CPJ has removed a Palestinan man, Mohamed Khaireddine, from this list. Khaireddine was previously identified as a journalist, but his family later clarified that he was neither a journalist nor a media support worker.
CPJ has removed two Israeli journalists, Shai Regev and Ayelet Arnin, from this list after their outlets confirmed that the journalists were not on assignment to cover the music festival, nor did they have any opportunity to begin reporting on the attack by Hamas militants that killed them on October 7. CPJ’s global database of killed journalists includes only those who have been killed in connection with their work or where there is still some doubt that their death was work-related.
After receiving reports that Palestinian journalist and presenter Alaa Taher Al-Hassanat may have survived the attack thought to have killed her, CPJ has removed her name from its casualties list pending further investigation.
*CPJ’s research and documentation covers all journalists, defined as individuals involved in news-gathering activity. This definition covers those working for a broad range of publicly and privately funded news outlets, as well as freelancers. In the cases CPJ has documented, multiple sources have found no evidence to date that any journalist was engaged in militant activity.
This text has been updated to correct the spelling of Alma Al-Shaab in Issam Abdallah’s October 13, 2023 entry, and of the outlet Palestine TV in Abu Hatab’s November 2, 2023 entry.
On February 6, 2024, Canadian-Palestinian journalist Mansour Shouman was found alive after being reported missing more than two weeks before. We have removed him from our list of missing journalists.
]]>Beirut, March 18, 2024 — The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that Israeli soldiers assaulted Al-Jazeera Arabic reporter Ismail Al-Ghoul, detained him and other journalists at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, and calls for their immediate release.
On Monday, Israel Defense Forces soldiers assaulted Al-Jazeera Arabic reporter Ismail Al-Ghoul as he reported on a new Israeli offensive on the hospital, and then took Al-Ghoul and other journalists to an undisclosed location, according to Al-Jazeera, and multiple news reports.
The reports said that Israeli forces raided the hospital at dawn, detaining at least 80 people overall. The IDF said it has taken control of Al-Shifa hospital, calling the action an operation to “thwart terrorist activity” following “concrete intelligence” that “senior Hamas terrorists” had “regrouped” inside the hospital.
Thousands of Palestinians displaced by the war have sought shelter in the hospital complex.
The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV said in its live coverage that it has been trying to contact Al-Ghoul without success since the morning, as telecommunications were down in northern Gaza. It reported that Al-Ghoul was assaulted and forced to strip naked before being taken by IDF soldiers to an unknown location.
Al-Jazeera TV talked to other journalists present at Al-Shifa hospital who said they were surrounded by Israeli fire and tanks at the hospital, and that other journalists and media workers were also arrested with Al-Ghoul. CPJ wasn’t immediately able to verify the names and work of these journalists.
Al-Jazeera also said that Israeli soldiers destroyed the broadcast vehicles the journalists were using to report in front of Al-Shifa hospital.
“We’re deeply alarmed and outraged by reports of the assault on Al-Jazeera reporter Ismail Al-Ghoul from Al-Shifa hospital and other journalists while doing their jobs reporting on the Israeli offensive on the hospital,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna. “The IDF should immediately release Al-Ghoul and other detained Palestinian journalists and take steps to protect the members of the media covering this war.”
Al-Jazeera Media Network called in a statement for “the immediate release of Al-Ghoul and his colleagues,” regarding their arrest as a “new intimidation against journalists to prevent them from reporting on Israeli army crimes in Gaza.”
The last reports by Al-Ghoul were the night and the morning before his arrest, when he reported on the aid that arrived in Gaza City and transmitted a live report from outside Al-Shifa hospital hours before the IDF raid.
Journalists have been working from the vicinity of the hospital since the start of the war, while enduring electricity and telecommunications blackouts.
Since Hamas’ deadly raid on Israel on October 7, CPJ has documented 95 journalists and media workers killed while covering the war, including the killing by Israeli drone strikes of Al-Jazeera’s Samer Abu Daqqa on December 15, Hamza Al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya on January 7, and a drone attack that seriously injured Al-Jazeera reporter Ismail Abu Omar. CPJ has called for independent investigations into the attacks. CPJ did not receive a response to its email to the IDF’s North America Desk asking for comment on the reports about the beating and arrests of journalists at the hospital complex.
On February 27, Polish police detained reporter Mykhailo Tkach and cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko, from the independent news website Ukrainska Pravda, near the eastern Polish city of Łuków, while they were reporting on agricultural trade between Poland and its eastern neighbors Russia and Belarus, according to news reports andUkrainska Pravda Chief Editor Sevgil Musaieva, who spoke to CPJ.
Separately, on March 7, Polish law enforcement officers detained editor Yuriy Konkevych and camera operator Oleksandr Pilyuk, from the Ukrainian news agency Rayon.in.ua, while they were reporting on freight traffic on the Polish-Russian border and deported them to Ukraine on March 9, according to the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine and multiple news reports.
“CPJ is concerned by Poland’s detention, in the span of two weeks, of four Ukrainian journalists who were investigating the country’s trade with Russia,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s program coordinator for Europe and Central Asia. “Journalists should be able to report on matters of public interest without fear of detention or deportation.”
Polish farmers have been blocking border crossings with Ukraine, as they say cheap Ukrainian grain is flooding their market since customs duties were waived after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Tkach and Bondarenko showed their journalistic credentials to the police officers who had approached their car, those sources said. “They began grabbing our cameras and looking around,” Tkach told his outlet, adding that around 10 police officers searched their car and seized “all of the phones, documents, and memory cards from the cameras.”
Police officers then took Tkach and Bondarenko to the police commandant’s office in Łuków and, along with agents with the Polish special services, questioned the journalists about their sources, he said.
Tkach and Bondarenko were released after the Ukrainian ambassador to Poland intervened, having been kept at the office for over four hours, the Ukrainska Pravda report said. Their property was returned but some footage had been deleted from their memory cards, and the battery charger was damaged, it said.
The police of Lublin province, where Łuków is located, said on X, formerly Twitter, that they took action to “establish” the journalists’ identities and then allowed them to leave the station.
The Ukrainian press freedom group Institute of Mass Information (IMI) quoted Poland’s Lublin provincepolice as denying that they seized phones and other personal belongings from the journalists, saying that they only “inspected” the contents of the journalists’ car after receiving a report that two men were using a drone and cameras near the railway track.
“They have cameras everywhere in the commandant’s office, and if they look at a video or are interested in it, they will see everything,” Tkach told IMI.
Tkach, an investigative reporter, has previously been surveilled and harassed in connection with his work. On March 16, police in the western city of Uzhhorod came to Tkach’s hotel at 2:40 a.m. following a complaint from a local MP, the subject of a recent Ukrainska Pravda investigation, who claimed that he had been followed, Tkach reported on Facebook.
In the second incident, around five or six police officers detained Konkevych and Pilyuk in the Polish town of Braniewo, searched their car, and seized the journalists’ phones, memory cards, microphones, camera, and laptop, Rayon.in.ua said, adding that the police did not inform the consul or allow the reporters to call Ukraine.
Braniewo is about 70 kilometers (43 miles) southwest of Kaliningard, a Baltic Sea port that became part of Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, although it is geographically separate from Russia and borders Poland and Lithuania.
The journalists were detained for “spending too much time photographing critical infrastructure” in the area, “namely Russian liquefied gas railcars,” the report said.
Konkevych told IMI that “various Polish services” interrogated him and Pilyuk on March 7 and March 8, before the Polish Internal Security Service ordered their deportation as “persons who threaten the national security of Poland,” without providing further details. Their personal belongings were returned, but not their professional equipment, he said.
Rayon.in.au has started the process of appealing the deportation, which prohibits the journalists from visiting for five years the 27 European Schengen area countries where border controls have been abolished, and demanded the return of their equipment, its director Ihor Denisevich said in a statement.
CPJ’s text messages to Rayon.in.ua and email to Polish police requesting comment on the journalists’ arrests did not receive any replies.
]]>Napo-Koura is due to appear in court on March 20 in the Togolese capital, Lomé, over a defamation complaint filed in March 2023 by Charles Kokouvi Gafan, former general manager of Togo Terminal, about a report published in the privately owned Tampa Express in January 2023 about alleged mismanagement at the company, according to the journalist, who spoke with CPJ, and a copy of a letter from his lawyer, Elom Kpade, and a copy of the complaint.
The complaint claimed Tampa Express published “false information” about Gafan that constituted defamation, and that the allegations were repeated by Napo-Koura on a broadcast by the privately owned Taxi FM and circulated on social media. The complaint also requested that the court find Tampa Express and Napo-Koura guilty of defamation under the penal code and order them to pay Gafan 30 million West African francs (about US$50,000), among other remedies.
Togo’s press code says that offenses involving journalists must be handled by the communications regulator, but in certain circumstances still allows for journalists to be prosecuted under the penal code. Article 156 of the press code says that journalists who “used social networks as a means of communication” to commit such offenses are instead “punished in accordance with the common law provisions.”
Napo-Koura could receive a prison sentence of up to six months and a fine of up to 2 million CFA francs (US$ 3,321) under Article 290 of the penal code.
Separately, on March 4, Togo’s media regulator, the High Authority for Audiovisual and Communication (HAAC) suspended the privately owned La Dépêche for three months over its February 28 report that questioned the 2023 conviction of Major General Abalo Kadangha for the murder of Lieutenant-Colonel Bitala Madjoulba in 2020, according to the newspaper’s editor Apollinaire Mewenemesse and a copy of the decision reviewed by CPJ.
“Togolese authorities should reverse their suspension of La Dépêche newspaper and cease harassing the Tampa Express newspaper and its publishing director Francisco Napo-Koura,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program. “The repeated suspension of news outlets in Togo and the threat of journalists being criminally prosecuted for their work has become far too commonplace in the country and violates citizen’s access to information.”
Gafan also complained to the HAAC last year about the same January 2023 Tampa Express article, which prompted the regulator to suspend publication of the newspaper for three months in February 2023, according to Napo-Koura, and a copy of the HAAC’s decision, reviewed by CPJ.
In the case of La Dépêche, the HAAC said the newspaper provided “no evidence to support its allegations and insinuations” about the murder trial and that its report contained incitement to tribal hatred and popular revolt and called for ethnic confrontation between military officers. These allegations were not substantiated by CPJ’s review of the report.
The HAAC also alleged “recidivism” by La Dépêche, saying that it had previously summoned the newspaper in May 2023 and November 2020 over other reports.
Under Article 65 of Togo’s law regulating communications, the HAAC can suspend daily newspapers for up to 15 days and other publishers and broadcasters for up to four months for non-compliance with its recommendations, decisions, and warnings.
Napo-Koura has previously faced legal action over his reporting. In September, he was questioned by judicial police following a complaint by the civil service minister, Gilbert Bawara, over an August 2023 Tampa Express report on allegations of corruption in civil service recruitment, Napo-Koura and Kpade told CPJ, adding that the case was pending with the prosecutor.
CPJ’s calls to Gafan and the HAAC to request comment were not answered.
The HAAC suspended Liberté newspaper in 2022 and L’Alternative and Fraternité newspapers in 2021 and barred L’Indépendant Express from publishing in 2021 over their critical reporting.
]]>On Thursday, Kyrgyzstan’s parliament approved in a third and final reading, without debate, a bill requiring nonprofits that receive foreign funding and engage in what it defines as political activities to register as “foreign representatives,” according to news reports.
Japarov, who recently defended the law in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, has a month to return the bill or sign it into law.
The bill, an amended version of a draft law previously criticized by CPJ, does not directly target news outlets but would apply to media rights organizations and nonprofits that run several of Kyrgyzstan’s prominent independent news websites, according to CPJ’s review.
A new provision requires organizations designated as “foreign representatives” to label their publications as being produced by a foreign representative. Other clauses grant authorities sweeping powers of oversight over the activities of “foreign representatives” and allow them to suspend or shutter nonprofits for alleged violations of the law.
“The ‘foreign agents’ bill passed by Kyrgyzstan’s parliament copies many of the worst aspects of Russia’s foreign agent legislation. It is clearly focused on stigmatizing nonprofits working in news media and threatens to hamstring the work of press freedom organizations,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov must show that his stated commitment to free speech is more than empty words by vetoing the bill and withdrawing his support for any form of foreign agent law.”
Submitted to parliament in May, the bill has elicited extensive international criticism, including from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, U.N. special rapporteurs, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and Blinken.
The latest version of the bill, amended by parliament in February ahead of the second reading, removes a controversial clause stipulating prison terms of up to 10 years for vaguely defined offenses, according to CPJ’s review and an analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL).
Under the bill, externally funded nonprofits must apply to a public register of “foreign representatives” if they participate in activities defined by the law as “political”—including “disseminating … opinions on decisions taken by state organs,” issuing public appeals to state organs and officials, and “shaping socio-political views and convictions, including by conducting surveys of public opinion.”
The law would require nonprofits to carry out a costly independent audit report each year, according to the ICNL. It would also grant authorities the right to request their internal documents, to send government representatives to participate in nonprofits’ internal activities, and to check—by as-yet-unspecified means—whether their activities and expenditures correspond to the aims listed in their articles of incorporation, it said. The U.N. special rapporteurs said these clauses “may amount to almost unrestricted administrative control over these associations.”
Authorities would have the power to suspend the activities of nonprofits for up to six months and freeze their bank accounts if they fail to declare themselves as foreign representatives or to label their publications after receiving a warning. Nonprofits that fail to rectify such omissions after suspension can be liquidated by the courts.
In his letter to Blinken, Japarov said Kyrgyzstan needed to ensure financial transparency of media outlets and NGOs. However, Aibek Askarbekov, an independent human rights lawyer, told CPJ that authorities already had full access to financial data of nonprofits, which are required to publish information about sources of income and expenditures online. The bill instead aims at “exerting tight control” over nonprofits, he said.
Parliamentary approval of the bill comes amid an unprecedented crackdown on independent reporting in a country previously seen as a regional haven for the free press. In January, Kyrgyz authorities arrested 11 journalists linked to the investigative outlet Temirov Live and raided the privately owned news agency 24.kg. In February, authorities shuttered the prominent news website Kloop.
CPJ’s emails to Kyrgyzstan’s parliament, lawmaker Nadira Narmatova, who introduced the bill to parliament, and the Office of the President requesting comment on the bill did not receive any replies.
]]>“As Azerbaijan sweeps up and detains critical journalists across the country, this latest decision to extend the incarceration of Abzas Media staff illustrates authorities’ steadfast determination to censor its best and brightest reporters by locking them up,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Authorities in Azerbaijan should immediately drop all charges against Abzas Media staff, release all unjustly jailed journalists, and end their crackdown on the independent press.”
If found guilty, the six journalists, who have all been charged with conspiracy to smuggle currency, could face up to eight years in prison under Article 206.3.2 of Azerbaijan’s criminal code.
In separate hearings on March 14 and 15, the Khatai District Court in the capital, Baku, extended by three months the detention of Abzas Media director Ulvi Hasanli, chief editor Sevinj Vagifgizi, and project manager Mahammad Kekalov, according to news reports and a Facebook post by Abzas Media.
In recent weeks, the courts also issued three-month extensions for the detention of three of Abzas Media’s journalists. Rulings were made in early March for Hafiz Babali, and Elnara Gasimova, who were arrested in December and January, and in February for Nargiz Absalamova, who was arrested in December.
The crackdown on Abzas Media—an outlet known for investigating allegations of corruption among senior state officials—began in November when police raided its offices and accused staff of illegally bringing Western donor money into Azerbaijan.
Abzas Media said that the raid was part of President Ilham Aliyev’s pressure on the outlet for “a series of investigations into the corruption crimes of the president and officials appointed by him.” The outlet has continued publishing with a new team in Europe and with the support of Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based group that pursues the work of imprisoned journalists.
The Abzas Media staff are among 10 journalists from three independent media outlets currently jailed in Azerbaijan, amid a decline in relations between Azerbaijan and the West.
Earlier in March, police raided Toplum TV’s office and a court ordered that founder Alasgar Mammadli and editor Mushfig Jabbar be detained for four months pending investigation on currency smuggling charges.
Broadcaster Kanal 13’s director Aziz Orujov, and reporter Shamo Eminov have been in jail since November and December, respectively, on the same charges.
]]>On March 8, a court in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, ordered Toor be sent to jail on a 14-day judicial remand pending investigation, following 11 days of detention in the custody of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), according to news reports.
Three days earlier, FIA officials raided Toor’s Islamabad home, seizing his mobile phone and a portable internet device, the journalist’s lawyer, Imaan Mazari-Hazir, told CPJ.
Toor was arrested on February 26, after appearing for questioning earlier that day in relation to an alleged anti-judiciary campaign at the FIA’s cybercrime wing. Three days earlier, Toor was questioned for about eight hours without having access to his legal team.
However, the FIA first information report (FIR) opening an investigation into Toor accuses the journalist of “anti-state” rather than anti-judiciary commentary, saying he created a “malicious/obnoxious and explicit campaign” against “civil servants/ government officials and state institutions” through his political affairs YouTube channel Asad Toor Uncensored and account on X, formerly known as Twitter, in violation of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (PECA).
On Thursday, a special FIA court adjourned Toor’s bail hearing until Monday, March 18, after the agency’s special prosecutor and the investigating officer did not attend the hearing. However, on Friday, the Islamabad High Court ordered that Toor’s bail application be heard on Saturday, March 16, noting that the special court adjourned bail proceedings “without any justification or basis,” according to a copy of the order reviewed by CPJ.
“The ongoing detention and investigation of journalist Asad Ali Toor, as well as authorities’ seizure of his devices and pressure to disclose his sources, constitute an egregious violation of press freedom in Pakistan,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “Authorities must cease using the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act and other draconian laws to persecute journalists and silence critical reporting and commentary.”
Toor is accused of violating three sections of the PECA pertaining to glorification of an offense, cyberterrorism, and cyberstalking, according to the FIR. CPJ has repeatedly documented the use of the law to detain and harass journalists for their work.
A Supreme Court order on Monday stated that the FIR against Toor was “lacking in material particulars,” meaning it failed to establish how the journalist committed the alleged offenses, Mazari-Hazir said.
Toor went on a hunger strike from February 28 to March 3 to protest his detention, Mazari-Hazir told CPJ.
On Wednesday, Mazari-Hazir and another lawyer representing Toor received a court order granting permission to meet their client in eastern Punjab province’s Adiala jail. However, jail authorities denied them access later that day following a controversial two-week ban on all public visits due to alleged “security” threats in the complex, where former Prime Minister Imran Khan is also held.
Toor informed his lawyers that while in FIA custody, he was held with around 20 to 30 people in a small cell where it was difficult to sit, Mazari-Hazir said, adding that authorities interrogated the journalist multiple times overnight, depriving him of sleep, and pressured him to disclose his sources, which he refused to do. In a remand application filed in court on March 3, the FIA stated that Toor was “non-cooperative to disclose his sources of information.”
Pakistan’s Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act, 2021 protects journalists’ right to privacy and the non-disclosure of their sources.
Prior to his arrest, Toor had reported critically on the chief justice of Pakistan and the country’s military establishment.
CPJ called and texted Pakistan information minister Attaullah Tarrar for comment on the case but did not receive a response.
Editor’s note: The sixth paragraph has been updated with details of a Friday court order from the Islamabad High Court.
]]>Negi, editor of the weekly Hindi newspaper Jago Uttarakhand, was arrested on March 5 from his home in Pauri town, 94 miles (151 kilometers) from the state capital of Dehradun, according to multiple news outlets and his lawyer, Navnish Negi (no relation), who spoke to CPJ by phone.
Although Negi was released on bail on Wednesday, he faces accusations under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes law, based on a complaint from an unnamed individual and allegations of a scuffle with police officers during his arrest, those reports added.
Immediately after Negi’s arrest, Uttarakhand Director General of Police, Abhinav Kumar, issued a statement accusing the journalist of being “part of a conspiracy” to “sow anarchy and discord in society” through his reporting and activism around the police investigation into the killing of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari in September 2022, news reports said.
Bhandari, a receptionist at a resort owned by the son of a former ruling Bharatiya Janata Party official, went missing and was later found dead. Despite initial arrests in connection with the case, including that of the official’s son, concerns persist over the pace and transparency of the investigation. Negi has extensively reported and shared his views on the police investigation on his news website and social media platforms, according to CPJ’s review.
“The police chief’s statement makes it abundantly clear that journalist Ashutosh Negi is being targeted for his work as a journalist and activist,” said Kunāl Majumder, CPJ’s India representative. “Authorities in Uttarakhand must drop all charges against him and ensure that the media can perform their duties without fear or interference.”
Navnish Negi accused the police of misusing the law to target his client and told CPJ that the accusation against Negi for violating Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes law was found to be false during a governmental inquiry 1½ years ago. A fresh allegation was filed against Negi in January to harass him, Navnish Negi claimed.
Kumar did not respond to CPJ’s email requesting comments.
]]>On March 12, armed men dressed in red and white shirts with Clarkhills Properties Corporation verbally barred Manabat and Quejada from entering an area under land dispute in Anunas village, Angeles City, in the northwest Pampanga province, according to multiple news reports.
The men later grabbed Manabat and Quejada’s belongings and threatened to shoot the journalists when they saw them filming a dispute between local residents and Clarkhills’ armed demolition team, according to reports.
Several demolitions have occurred in the disputed 73-hectare area, sparking violent encounters, Rappler reported. Manabat left the site and took refuge in a nearby house after the men made the shooting threat, according to a Rappler report.
Quejada was accosted, questioned, and held at gunpoint by the men before also taking refuge in a nearby home, according to news reports and a statement on the incident released by Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin Jr. Additionally, she was temporarily reported missing, reports said.
“Filipino authorities should leave no stone unturned in identifying and prosecuting those responsible for the harassment and shooting threat made against reporters Joann Manabat and Rowena Quejada,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s Senior Southeast Asia Representative. “This type of unchecked thuggery is precisely what makes the Philippines such a perilous place to be a reporter. It should stop under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s democratic rule.”
Several people suffered gunshot wounds in Tuesday’s melee and were taken to the local Rafael Lazatin Memorial Medical Center for treatment, news reports said. Both reporters safely left the area after the violence subsided, the reports said.
The Angeles City Police Department and Clarkhills Properties did not immediately respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.
The local Commission on Human Rights indicated it would conduct a probe into the threats against Manabat and Quejada, news reports said.
]]>On Tuesday, the Pervomaisky District Court in the capital, Bishkek, extended by two months the pre-trial detention of Temirov Live director Makhabat Tajibek kyzy and the outlet’s current and former staff members Aike Beishekeyeva, Azamat Ishenbekov, Saipidin Sultanaliev, Aktilek Kaparov, Tynystan Asypbekov, Joodar Buzumov, and Maksat Tajibek uulu, according to news reports.
The court also ordered Temirov Live journalist Sapar Akunbekov and camera operator Akyl Orozbekov released into house arrest and freed the outlet’s former project manager Jumabek Turdaliev under a travel ban.
All 11 continue to face charges of inciting mass unrest, which carries a jail sentence of up to eight years under Article 278, Part 3, of Kyrgyzstan’s criminal code.
“The mass detention of journalists linked to investigative outlet Temirov Live is emblematic of Kyrgyzstan’s intensifying press freedom crisis,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “By extending their incarceration, the country’s authorities are signalling their intention to continue this repressive course.”
In a series of raids on January 16, police searched Temirov Live’s office and the 11 journalists’ homes and arrested the journalists over unspecified videos by Temirov Live and sister project Ait Ait Dese. Court documents reviewed by CPJ accused Tajibek kyzy of “discrediting” state organs in those videos, “which could lead to various forms of mass unrest.”
A local partner of global investigative network Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Temirov Live is known for its anti-corruption investigations into senior government officials and has more than 265,000 subscribers on its YouTube channels. Authorities deported the outlet’s Kyrgyzstan-born founder Bolot Temirov in 2022 and banned him from entering the country for five years in connection to his reporting.
In recent months, Kyrgyz authorities have launched an unprecedented crackdown on independent reporting in a country previously seen as a regional haven for the free press. On January 15, security services raided privately owned news website 24.kg and opened a criminal case for “propaganda of war.” In February, a court shuttered Kloop, another OCCRP partner.
In April 2023, a court ordered the closure of Radio Azattyk, the local service of U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), but reversed the decision in July after the outlet deleted a report that authorities had demanded be removed.
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