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September 01, 2025 – Palestine –
Major international news organizations are urgently calling for enhanced protection for journalists covering the war in Gaza, warning that the conflict has become the deadliest ever recorded for media workers.
On September 1, 2025, media organizations, including NPR, CNN, Reuters, AP, and others, signed a joint appeal—coordinated by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Avaaz—highlighting that more than 220 journalists have been killed by the Israeli army in under two years, with Palestinian counts reaching 247 fatalities. A Brown University study underscores the crisis by revealing that the number of journalists killed in this conflict already surpasses combined totals from the U.S. Civil War, both World Wars, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and conflicts in Yugoslavia and Afghanistan.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the call as a political manifesto and accused global media of bias, claiming press reports paint a distorted view aligned with “Hamas lies”. Conversely, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) deems Israel’s actions “the deadliest and most deliberate effort to kill and silence journalists” it has ever documented. The CPJ also admonished Israeli authorities for issuing unsubstantiated allegations to rationalize these killings.
Among the most tragic cases cited was the killing of Al Jazeera reporter Ismail al‑Ghoul and cameraman Rami Al Rifi in an airstrike that severed al‑Ghoul’s head from his body—an outcome Israel later linked to alleged ties with Hamas, a claim that the CPJ called “deeply implausible” given al‑Ghoul’s age at the time. The appeal also urged the UN Security Council to act, especially in advance of the upcoming General Assembly; it cited Israel’s ban on independent journalist access to Gaza as unprecedented in modern warfare.
Beyond casualties, the restrictions on media access to Gaza hinder oversight and transparency. CPJ and other outlets note that foreign reporters have been largely limited to military embeds, severely constraining independent reporting.
Reference –
Media outlets demand Israel grant access to Gaza, halt attacks on journalists there
