According to CPJ, the Israeli military “continues to act with complete impunity when it comes to killing journalists.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has denounced Israel’s killing of four Palestinian journalists in Gaza last week, as the Israeli military intensifies its bombardment of the Gaza Strip besieged area.
The United States-based watchdog said in a statement on Monday that the international community had failed to hold Israel accountable for its actions amid the rising death toll of journalists and civilians in Gaza.
“At least 95 journalists and media workers were killed worldwide in 2024,” said Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of CPJ.
“Israel is responsible for two-thirds of these deaths and yet it behaves with total impunity when it comes to killing journalists and attacking the media.”
The comments came a day after Israeli forces killed Ahmed al-Louh, a 39-year-old Palestinian journalist who worked as a cameraman for Al Jazeera, in Nuseirat refugee camp.
In recent days, Israel also killed journalists Mohammed Balousha, Mohammed Jabr al-Qrinawi and Eman Shanti.
Hours before an Israeli airstrike killed Shanti With her husband and children in Gaza City, the Palestinian journalist wrote on social media on Wednesday: “Is it possible that we are still alive until now?”
According to local health authorities, Israel has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. In addition, large parts of the enclave were razed and a crushing blockade was imposed, leading to deadly starvation throughout the area.
Experts and United Nations human rights groups have accused Israel of this commit genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Since no foreign reporters are allowed to work in Gaza, Palestinian journalists were the only witnesses describe the atrocities to the outside world. And that, human rights activists argue, has put them in the crosshairs of an Israeli military that operates without regard for legal and ethical norms.
According to the Gaza government’s media office, Israeli forces have killed 196 Palestinian media workers in Gaza since the war began last year. CPJ, which did not include some media figures in its list, puts the death toll at 133.
On Sunday, Al Jazeera condemned al-Louh’s killing and accused Israel of carrying out a “systematic, cold-blooded killing of journalists.”
Al-Louh was the latest of several Al Jazeera-affiliated journalists killed by Israeli forces since the war began. He was killed on the first anniversary of the murder of another Al Jazeera cameraman. Samer Abudaqa, in an Israeli attack.
Earlier this year, Israel also killed the station’s correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifi in a targeted attack.
The Israeli military has not denied targeting al-Louh and other Al Jazeera journalists. Instead, it has tried to use a familiar excuse to justify their killing – accusing them, without evidence, of being members of Palestinian armed groups, which the network has vehemently denied.
On Sunday, the Israeli military claimed that al-Louh was a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but provided no evidence to support these claims.
Israel had also declared that al-Ghoul was a member of Hamas and later released as alleged evidence an apparently forged document claiming that al-Ghoul had received a military rank with Hamas in 2007 – when he was ten years old .
Since the war on Gaza began, Israel has claimed – largely without evidence – that its attacks on Palestinians are part of its campaign against Hamas.
The Israeli military did it too bombed schoolsHospitals and refugee camps and claimed that they were Hamas fighters.
