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SEE UPDATE November 2023
We remember journalists killed in the Israel-Gaza conflict
LONDON FREELANCE Branch of the National Union of Journalists mourns all journalists killed in the Israel-Gaza conflict. At the time of writing the Committee to Protect Journalists was reporting that at least 15 journalists were among the more than 4000 dead on both sides since the war began on 7 October. (See the updates of 19 October, 22 October and 26 October, taking the total number of journalists killed to 24.)
Some died when their homes were attacked; some were directly targeted while working as journalists. CPJ reports that 11 were Palestinian, 3 Israeli, and 1 Lebanese. It knows of 8 journalists reported injured and 3 reported missing or detained. CPJ is also investigating more than 100 unconfirmed reports of other journalists being killed, missing, detained, or threatened, and of damage to media offices and journalists' homes.
The International Federation of Journalists further reports that the whereabouts of a local photographer and a retired journalist based in southern Israel, near the Gaza strip, remain unknown since 7 October and is extremely concerned that they may have been abducted by Hamas.
The IFJ and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) condemn the killings and continued attacks on journalists. The IFJ calls for an immediate investigation into their deaths.
IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: "Media workers in areas of armed conflict must be treated and protected as civilians and allowed to perform their work without interference. The IFJ calls on all combatants in this conflict to do their utmost to safeguard journalists and media professionals. There is intense and deeply concerned interest in this conflict all round the world, but people will only be able to understand what is really going on if journalists are allowed to do their work."
London Freelance Branch Committee joins in the condemnation and the call for investigations.
Further, the Committee urges freelances not to set off for any war zone without training in surviving there or without full insurance that will get you home if injured. Really, this is one for staff journalists with full institutional backup.
19 October
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has supplied details of journalists who have been killed:
- Ahmed Shahab, a program producer at the Voice of Prisoners Radio
- Muhammad al-Salehi, a photographer for the Fourth Authority agency
- Freelance photojournalist Muhammad Fayez Abu Matar
- Hisham al-Nawajah, a photographer for the "News" agency
- Photojournalist Ibrahim Lafi from the Ain Media Foundation
- Saeed al-Taweel, Editor-in-Chief of the Fifth News Agency
- Muhammad Jurjoun from the Smart Media agency
- Freelance journalist Asaad Shamlakh
- Muhammad Abu Rizk, a photographer for the "News" agency
- Journalist Salam Meema, whose death was confirmed after she was pulled from under the rubble three days after her home was destroyed
- Husam Mubarak, a presenter on the Al-Aqsa Channel
- Abdul Hadi Habeib, from Al-Manarah Media Agency and HQ Media Agency, along with some of his family members, in a missile attack that targeted his home
- Muhammad Baalusha, from Palestine Today Channel, along with his family, in a missile attack that targeted his home
- Essam Bahar from Al-Aqsa Channel, along with his wife and family members, in a missile attack that targeted his home
- Sameh al-Nadi, Director, Al-Aqsa Satellite Channel
- Khalil Abu Athrah, a photographer for Al-Aqsa Channel, after being targeted along with his brother in the Nasr neighbourhood in northern Rafah
The following are known to the PJS to be missing:
- Photojournalist Nadal al-Wahidi, who works as a producer for Al-Najah Channel
- Haitham Abdel Wahid from the Ain Media Media Foundation
The PJS also reports 20 injuries in Gaza. Around 20 homes of journalists were destroyed, some entirely and some partially, and family members were injured or killed. The homes of journalists Walid al-Rahman and Rami al-Sharafi, who are members of the leadership bodies of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, were targeted.
About 50 media organisatons' headquarters were destroyed, including those of Al-Jazeera, the French agency AFP, and dozens of local radio stations, channels, and agencies.
The G Media Foundation has been closed on order of the Israeli army, and the the Al-Aqsa Channel's broadcasts on the Eutelsat satellite have been stopped. Other radio stations have stopped broadcasting due to the lack of electricity.
In the rest of the pccupied Palestinian territories - the West Bank and Jerusalem - more than 50 journalists have been detained, preventing crews from working. The PJS reports physical assaults including beatings, and confiscation and destruction of journalists' equipment.
In Lebanon, the Reuters news agency confirmed on Friday that Issam Abdallah, a videographer, was killed. Two other Reuters journalists, Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, were wounded. Al Jazeera reported that cameraperson Elie Brakhia and reporter Carmen Joukhadar were also wounded. AFP (Agence France-Presse) news agency reported that two of its reporters were also among those injured.
The Committee to Protect Journalists gives the names of the Israeli journalists killed as:
- Shai Regev, an editor for the gossip and entertainment news section of the Hebrew-language daily newspaper Ma'ariv, killed during a Hamas attack on Israel
- Ayelet Arnin, a news editor with the Israel Broadcasting Corporation Kan, killed during a Hamas attack in the south of Israel
- Yaniv Zohar, a photographer working for the Israeli Hebrew-language daily newspaper Israel Hayom, killed during a Hamas attack on Kibbutz Nahal Oz in southern Israel
20 October The CPJ lists an additional Palestinian victim: Yousef Maher Dawas was a writer for Palestine Chronicle and for We Are Not Numbers (WANN), a youth-led Palestinian nonprofit project; he was killed in an Israeli missile strike on his family's home in the northern town of Beit Lahia, located in the Gaza Strip north of Jabalia.
Meanwhile the International Federation of Journalists has issued an appeal to journalists everywhere to respect the professional principles of the Global Ethics Charter, notably that "the notion of urgency or immediacy in the dissemination of information shall not take precedence over the verification of facts and sources". It says: "Unverified information, unsourced videos and images from social networks: the war between Hamas and Israel is also a war of communication... the professional principles of journalists must be absolutely respected. The duty is to provide information in the public interest."
Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed by Israeli troops while reporting for Al Jazeera in Jenin - in the occupied West Bank - on 11 May 2022. Branch member Pennie Quinton organised a memorial service and the order of service named 46 journalists killed covering the Israel-Palestine conflict between 2000 and May 2022.
22 October
Al Jazeera reports that Palestinian journalist Rushdi Sarraj has been killed in an Israeli attack on his home in Gaza, according to local journalists and his colleagues. "My close friend, Rushdi Sarraj, was killed in Israeli bombardment on his home. He was a talented photojournalist and director creatively telling the stories of Gazans under war and siege. May you rest in peace," international photojournalist Wissam Nassar said on Instagram.
The CPJ reports that Mohammed Ali, a journalist from Al-Shabab Radio (Youth Radio), was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate and the Cairo-based newspaper Al-Dostor.
26 October
The CPJ reports that Mohammed Imad Labad, a journalist with the Al Resalah news website, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in Gaza City, according to the Palestinian Authority's official news agency, WAFA.
Also, on 25 October two Palestinian journalists learned that their families had been killed - in what many believe were targeted attacks. These came after US Secretary of State Tony Blinken reportedly told the Prime Minister of Qatar "turn down the volume" of reporting by Al Jazeera.
Middle East Eye reports that Muhammad al-Farra received the news that his wife and children had killed by an Israeli air strike on the city of Khan Younis, in the south of Gaza, while he was covering a protest in the West Bank city of al-Birah.
Al Jazeera reports that family of the bureau chief of Al Jazeera Arabic, Wael Al-Dahdouh, were killed in an Israeli air raid. He was live on air when he learned that his wife, son, daughter and grandson were dead.
Wael Al-Dahdouh returned to work the next day.
In the dark
27 October All internet and cellphone communication from Gaza is cut off.
Journalists’ service: Without fear or favour
28 October There will be a service to commemorate those journalists, photographers, camera-crew, sound-crew and support staff who have died on the frontline, will be held at St Bride's Church, Fleet Street on Tuesday 7 November 2023 at 6:30pm. You are asked to register to attend.
The Psychological Toll of Journalism & How to Build Resilience Rory Peck Trust event 22/11/23