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September 08, 2025 – Palestine –
United Nations human rights experts have sounded the alarm on the deepening crisis in Gaza, urging the General Assembly to convene an emergency session to confront famine, mass civilian suffering, and what they describe as genocidal conditions. Central to their warning is the plight of Palestinian journalists, who have become both witnesses and victims of the catastrophe. The experts stressed that attacks on the press are not collateral but deliberate acts that strip Palestinians of their voice and the world of independent reporting from the ground.
Since October 2023, Gaza has become one of the most dangerous places in the world for media workers. At least 247 journalists have been killed in Israeli bombardments, with dozens more injured, detained, or disappeared. According to the experts, these deaths form part of a systematic campaign: journalists have been struck in their homes, at hospitals, in press tents, and even while broadcasting live. They highlighted cases where marked press vehicles were targeted and aid distribution points turned into deadly ambushes, killing not only civilians but also those reporting on the scene.
The experts emphasized that silencing Gaza’s journalists is an attack on the international community’s right to know the truth. By erasing local reporters, the world is left dependent on official military narratives, a reality that undermines transparency and accountability. Journalists’ testimonies, photographs, and video evidence have been vital in documenting starvation, displacement, and indiscriminate bombardment. Their elimination, the experts argued, is not only a national tragedy for Palestine but also a global press freedom crisis.
In their recommendations to the General Assembly, the experts urged immediate international protection for journalists operating in Gaza, including safe humanitarian corridors and UN-supervised access for the press. They further called for investigations into the killings of media workers as potential war crimes, stressing that the targeting of journalists violates international humanitarian law.
The appeal highlights that justice for Gaza’s journalists is inseparable from wider accountability for atrocities. As the experts put it, to remain silent in the face of their systematic killing is to normalize impunity and deny the world the very witnesses needed to confront famine, genocide, and occupation.
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