Freedom of the press is considered a fundamental pillar for defending human rights, as journalists play a vital role in documenting the truth and exposing violations during armed conflicts.
According to international humanitarian law, specifically the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 1977 (Article 79), journalists enjoy protection as civilians while performing their professional duties in conflict zones, and it is prohibited to deliberately target them.
Nevertheless, Palestinian journalists in Gaza continue to face systematic and deliberate attacks as part of the Israeli occupation’s ongoing war of genocide, aimed at silencing the truth and concealing its crimes from international scrutiny.
The Government Media Office in Gaza announced on Saturday that the death toll of journalists has risen to 252 since October 7, 2023. This came after the killing of journalist Mohammed al-Daia, who worked with the Palestinian Media Center and was killed when Israeli occupation forces bombed a tent housing displaced families in the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.
Eyewitnesses confirmed that the strike on the tent led to al-Daia’s death, describing it as part of the occupation’s ongoing military campaign targeting civilians and journalists alike.
This rise in the number of journalists killed comes amid the wider context of the genocide being carried out by Israeli occupation forces since October 7, 2023. The assault has killed 66,005 Palestinians — most of them women and children — and injured 168,162 others. Starvation has also claimed the lives of 442 Palestinians, including 147 children.
These figures reflect a pattern of collective violations that fall under the definition of genocide according to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which includes killing members of a group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, or deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction in whole or in part.
The deliberate targeting of journalists constitutes a direct violation of international humanitarian law, as the Geneva Conventions prohibit attacks on civilians. Journalists, as civilians, must be fully protected from any assault while performing their duties and must not be subjected to deliberate targeting.
The UN General Assembly Resolution 2673 (XXV) of 1970 also calls for the protection of journalists in conflict zones, considering any attack against them a crime under international law.
Despite these obligations, the Israeli occupation continues to ignore them, reinforcing allegations that the killing of journalists forms part of its broader strategy to conceal the genocide being carried out in Gaza.
This situation requires urgent international intervention to impose sanctions on the occupation, launch independent investigations into war crimes, and guarantee the protection of journalists as an essential step in combating genocide.
