Leaders from over 30 reputable news organizations, including the Associated Press (AP), Agence France-Presse (AFP), and Reuters, issued an open letter on Thursday with an urgent plea for the safety, protection, and freedom of Palestinian journalists in Gaza, according to a press release from the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Coordinated by the CPJ and backed by the World Association of News Publishers, the letter states: “For nearly five months, journalists and media workers in Gaza — overwhelmingly, the sole source of on-the-ground reporting from within the Palestinian territory — have been working in unprecedented conditions.”
The gravity of predicament is starkly illustrated by the CPJ’s statistics showing that at least 94 journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 89 of whom are Palestinians. Two are Israeli journalists, and three Lebanese, making this the “deadliest media worker toll in any country” since the CPJ first began collecting such data in 1992, according to CPJ.
The CPJ also counted 16 journalists injured, four missing, and 25 arrested, as well as numerous assaults, cyberattacks, censorship, and journalist family-member killings.
Yet journalists, whom CPJ calls “critical” to reporting on the facts on the ground during Israel’s war on Gaza, continue to work despite extreme personal risk, loss of life, displacement, communications blackouts, and food and fuel shortages, demonstrating their resilience in the face of ongoing crises.
Noting that “journalists are civilians,” the open letter calls for Israeli authorities to adhere to international law by protecting and not targeting members of the press, and for accountability for violations of such obligation to protect journalists.
“Attacks on journalists are also attacks on truth,” the news organizations stated.