Israel is Responsible for 58% of Journalist Murders in 2024
Palestinians mourn the death of five Al-Quds journalists outside Al-Awda Hospital, Gaza, Dec. 26, 2024. X/ @gazanotice
December 31, 2024 Hour: 7:51 am
Since the start of the offensive against Gaza, the number of Palestinian journalists killed has risen to 147.
On Tuesday, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) reported that 122 journalists and media workers were killed in 2024, making it one of the deadliest years for the profession, primarily due to the Israeli offensive against Gaza.
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On Dec. 10, the IFJ released an initial list in observance of International Human Rights Day, documenting 104 killings. Since then, additional deaths of professionals in the Middle East have been recorded, where Israeli offensives against Gaza and Lebanon accounted for 58% of all journalists killed in 2024. Specifically, Israeli occupation forces killed 64 Palestinian media professionals, six Lebanese, and one Syrian.
Since the start of the offensive against Gaza on October 7, 2023, the number of Palestinian journalists killed has risen to 147, making the region “one of the most dangerous in the history of modern journalism,” the IFJ noted.
IFJ Secretary-General Anthony Bellanger urged United Nations (UN) member states to take steps to ensure the adoption of a binding Convention on the safety of journalists. “Such a Convention would aim to end the deaths and injuries of journalists that tragically occur every year,” he said.
In Asia and the Pacific, the IFJ condemned the killing of seven professionals in Pakistan, five in Bangladesh, three in India, one in Cambodia, and one in the Philippines. Additionally, Myanmar’s dictatorship killed three journalists this year, while one journalist was killed in both Indonesia and Kazakhstan.
In 2024, ten journalists were killed in Africa, mostly in Sudan, where six lost their lives due to the generals’ war, which was particularly deadly. In addition, two Somali journalists, one Chadian, and one from the Democratic Republic of the Congo were killed this year.
In the Americas, the IFJ recorded nine deaths, including five Mexicans, two Colombians, and two Haitians. Journalists in the region faced threats, intimidation, kidnappings, and killings, mainly for their reporting on drug trafficking, which has plagued Mexico for over two decades.
In Europe, the war in Ukraine claimed the lives of four journalists, compared to 13 in 2022 and four in 2023, although Europe remains the safest continent in the world for the profession. To date, the IFJ has recorded 516 journalists in prison, a significant increase compared to 427 in 2023 and 375 in 2022.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
