The Israel-Hamas war has taken a heavy toll on Gaza journalists, with a global journalist organization reporting on Friday that the death toll among media workers in the Palestinian enclave surpasses the mortality rate among combatants in recent wars.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has recorded the death of 75 journalists in Gaza since Oct. 7 out of an estimated 1,000 working there before the war began — a mortality rate of 7.5%, which the IFJ has assessed far exceeds the death rate of US soldiers in past wars.
The organization cited figures by the US Department of Veteran Affairs, according to which 1.8% of US soldiers died in World War II (1939-45), 1.4% in the Korean war (1950-53), 1.7% in Vietnam (1955-75) and 0.06% in the first Gulf war (1991), in Iraq and Kuwait.
The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has so far resulted in more than 23,000 Palestinian deaths, most of the dead being women and children. Israel launched a devastating offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise assault into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 240 hostage. The war has spilled over into the broader region, with Iranian-backed militias in Lebanon, Syria and the Red Sea area joining in the conflict.
Monitoring organizations' death tolls for journalists have varied.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a report released on Friday that 77 journalists and media workers — 70 Palestinians, four Israelis, and three Lebanese — have been killed in the current hostilities.
More journalists have been killed in the first 10 weeks of the Israel-Gaza war than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year, according to an analysis by CPJ.
— Committee to Protect Journalists (@pressfreedom) January 4, 2024
Read more:https://t.co/CRK9JlIglq
The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate counts 102 Palestinian media workers killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, including 13 women.
The CPJ had previously described the first month of the current war in Gaza as the deadliest month for media workers since the committee began collecting data in 1992.
“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,” the CPJ said in its Friday report.
The IFJ relayed similar concerns, saying that journalists in Gaza are not only being killed, but many still working have lost their homes, and hundreds have lost family members in the ongoing Israeli bombardment, now approaching its third month.
Several rights groups and media agencies have accused Israel of intentionally targeting media workers in conflict zones, despite their being clearly identifiable as members of the press.
In a report last month, the CPJ expressed concerns “about an apparent pattern of targeting of journalists and their families by the Israeli military. In at least one case, a journalist was killed while clearly wearing press insignia in a location where no fighting was taking place.”
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have both determined that the Israeli strike that killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and injured six others in southern Lebanon in October was a deliberate attack on civilians that should be investigated as a war crime.
Israel has repeatedly denied that its forces target civilians and journalists.
The IFJ said in the Friday report that the governments supporting Israel must pressure it to protect journalists and calls on the International Criminal Court to investigate the treatment of journalists by the Israeli army.
