More than 30 news organizations signed an open letter on Thursday, February 29, expressing solidarity with journalists working in Gaza and calling for their protection and freedom to report.
The letter, coordinated by the Committee to Protect Journalists, was signed by global news agencies Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Associated Press (AP) and Reuters, as well as other leading media outlets including the New York Times, BBC News and Israel's Haaretz.
"For nearly five months, journalists and media workers in Gaza – overwhelmingly, the sole source of on-the-ground reporting from within the Palestinian territory – have been working in unprecedented conditions," the letter said. It noted that at least 89 journalists and media workers in Gaza have been killed in the war, according to the CPJ.
The Israel-Hamas war began following an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures. Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed 30,035 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
"Journalists are civilians and Israeli authorities must protect journalists as noncombatants according to international law," said the letter, also signed by the Association for International Broadcasters and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). "Those responsible for any violations of that longstanding protection should be held accountable."
At least 26,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war in Gaza, and that death toll includes journalists. Since Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel's bombardments on Gaza that followed, NGOs have been documenting the killings of journalists.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) use different methods to report on these killings. As of January 30, the CPJ reported that at least 85 journalists and media workers had been killed since October 7, and that 78 were Palestinian. The IFJ said 99 journalists had been killed as of January 30, with Palestinian journalists counting for 92 of those deaths. RSF reported that 20 journalists had been killed from 2023 to January 30, 2024.
The CPJ and IFJ's counts are higher because they both count media support workers, like translators, drivers and fixers in their tolls. RSF only lists journalists killed "if their death was linked to their journalistic activity," meaning if they were killed while working or because of their work.
It's hard to prove if journalists in Gaza are being targeted by Israel because of their profession. The CPJ and RSF have called for investigations into some of their killings.