The Israel-Hamas war led to one of the deadliest years for journalists on record, says advocacy organization

Ninety-five journalists and media workers around the world have been killed in the past year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The majority were Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, covering the continuing war between Israel and Hamas.

The committee, an advocacy organization that documents these killings, says the first month of the war, which began on Oct. 7, was the deadliest month for journalists since it began its work in 1992. By Dec. 31, at least 77 journalists and other media workers had been killed in that conflict, according to the group.

“What’s striking about that number is the short space of time in which those deaths occurred,” said Jodie Ginsberg, the organization’s president. “They can’t get to a place of safety. It’s very difficult to find anywhere in such a small patch of land that is safe. And of course, they’re trying to report on the war, which is everywhere.”

Where journalists and media workers

were killed in 2023

Ukraine 2

Albania 1

Afghanistan 1

Lebanon 3

U.S. 1

Israel and the Occupied

Palestinian Territories 74

Mexico 1

India 1

Sudan 1

Haiti 1

Philippines 2

Colombia 1

Cameroon 2

Bangladesh 1

Rwanda 1

Paraguay 1

Lesotho 1

john sopinski/the globe and mail, source: committee to protect journalists

Where journalists and media workers

were killed in 2023

Ukraine 2

Albania 1

Afghanistan 1

Lebanon 3

U.S. 1

Israel and the Occupied

Palestinian Territories 74

Mexico 1

India 1

Sudan 1

Haiti 1

Philippines 2

Colombia 1

Cameroon 2

Bangladesh 1

Rwanda 1

Paraguay 1

Lesotho 1

john sopinski/the globe and mail, source: committee to protect journalists

Where journalists and media workers were killed in 2023

Ukraine 2

Albania 1

Afghanistan 1

Lebanon 3

U.S. 1

Israel and the Occupied

Palestinian Territories 74

Mexico 1

India 1

Sudan 1

Haiti 1

Philippines 2

Colombia 1

Cameroon 2

Bangladesh 1

Rwanda 1

Paraguay 1

Lesotho 1

john sopinski/the globe and mail, source: committee to protect journalists

Seventy of the journalists who have died in the conflict were Palestinians, and more than a dozen of them were working for Hamas-affiliated media, according to the committee. Of the others who have died, four were Israeli, and three were Lebanese. The committee tracks only killings it has reason to believe were job-related, but it says it does not yet know whether all the journalists on its list were covering the conflict when they died. By comparison, 68 journalists were killed globally in 2022, by the committee’s count.

Ms. Ginsberg said journalists in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip are facing extreme physical danger while living and reporting from a war zone. She noted that they have also been dealing with extreme shortages of food, fuel and shelter, as well as communication blackouts.

A Gazan journalist who has worked alongside Globe and Mail reporters for years said many of the journalists who have been killed were people he knew. The 59-year-old, whom The Globe is not identifying because he fears for his safety, said he has tried to cover the war, but that doing so has been extremely difficult. He said he and his family have had to move three times in search of refuge, and that his office had been destroyed.

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The Committee to Protect Journalists also recorded killings in other places around the world, including two in Ukraine, two in the Philippines, and two in Cameroon. Some of those who died were caught in crossfire, and others were targeted and murdered. One journalist was killed in the United States, by a suspect in a shooting he was covering.

Ms. Ginsberg raised the case of the first journalist whose death the group documented in 2023: Martinez Zogo, the managing director of a privately owned Cameroonian radio broadcaster. He was killed in Cameroon in January. According to news reports, he was abducted and tortured. “He was investigating corruption, business and political collusion and he was brutally killed,” Ms. Ginsberg said. “And we’ve still not seen any justice for his killing.”

Local investigative reporters often work without any kind of protection, such as the backing of large media organizations, she said.

Ms. Ginsberg added that governments and other authorities are increasingly using laws unrelated to journalism to target and imprison journalists. According to the committee’s data, 363 journalists have been imprisoned since Dec. 1, 2022.

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She said the significant difference between this year and last is that more journalists were killed outside of war zones last year, despite the war in Ukraine.

It’s important to make clear to those who would target journalists that the world is watching, Ms. Ginsberg said. “Pursuing justice for those killed is very important, because it sends a powerful message to murderers that they can’t get away with the murder of journalists.”

She said there are no foreign journalists in Gaza – apart from those on heavily controlled trips with the Israel Defense Forces – and so people all over the world rely on Palestinian reporters to bring them the news. “So it’s not just about the loss of the individuals,” she continued. “It’s also the stories that we lose when those individuals are killed.”

Guilherme Canela, the chief of UNESCO’s freedom of expression and safety of journalists section, said that since 2017 his organization had been tracking a significant decrease in the numbers of journalists killed in conflict situations. But that trend reversed this year.

“This conflict is showing that there are concrete challenges in terms of the protection of the journalists doing their work in this area,” he said. “We need to always make no mistake. There is no negotiable that journalists should be protected as civilians and never can be considered a legitimate target in a conflict situation.”