Statement: Israeli occupying forces launch a new campaign targeting journalists and media outlets in Palestine · Global Voices
Global Voices MENA

Mourners on Friday, November 3 held a funeral for Palestine TV journalist Mohamed Abu Hattab, who was killed along with his family in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis on November 2. Screenshot from video by NBC News. Fair use.
Global Voices stands alongside 29 human rights organizations expressing deep concerns regarding the systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists by Israeli forces in Gaza. We echo calls for international intervention and appeal to United Nations Special Rapporteurs, the United Nations Security Council, and the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to condemn Israel's actions and insist on compliance with international human rights and humanitarian law. This statement was initially co-published by The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA Center) and our media partner, IFEX, on November 14, 2023.
Please consult the Committee to Protect Journalists for daily monitoring of journalist casualties and the Palestine Center for Development and Media Freedoms website for the most up to date information.
To the attention of:
Dear Ms. Khan, Ms. Albanese, Mr. Tidball-Binz, Ms. Lawlor, Mr. Nyaletsossi Voule and Mr. al-Maliki
The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA Center) is gravely concerned with the ongoing and systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), particularly in the Gaza Strip.
Since 7 October 2023, Israel has injured tens of Palestinian journalists with missile fragments resulting from the bombing of buildings and residential neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip. As of 14 November, 43 Palestinian journalists have been killed with numbers rising daily.
Two journalists were killed on the first day while covering the events east of “Bureij” in the middle of the Gaza Strip along the border. Three journalists were targeted after two days by a missile while they were fleeing from the “Haji” building located 150 meters away. The building includes foreign media offices, including the APA office and the Al-Jazeera Network office.
Israel’s bombing has either partially or completely destroyed some media institutions, including the headquarters of the “Al-Ayyam” newspaper in the Palestine Tower, Fadel Shanaa Foundation, Shehab Agency, and Gaza FM Radio. It has also targeted the homes of some journalists and their families; for example, destroying the house of the director of Zaman Radio and the broadcaster of the Al-Quds Today Channel.
There are also reports of missing journalists; Nidal Al-Wahidi and Haitham Abdel Wahid have been missing since the first day of the war while covering the events near the Beit Hanoun checkpoint – contact was lost and there is still no trace of them today. Internet outages and electricity disruptions add another layer to the difficulties facing the MADA Center in collecting information about the journalists in Gaza and have severely hampered the capacity of the MADA Center’s field researchers to efficiently report on the unfolding events.
In the West Bank, Israel have launched a new campaign targeting Palestinian journalists and media outlets, with more than 26 journalists arrested in the past few days. This is takes place against the backdrop of the 2022 assassination of two women journalists, Shireen Abu Akleh and Ghofran Al Warasneh, who were killed while wearing press helmets and flak jackets in the course of their work. Media have also been shadow banned; the Al-Aqsa satellite channel was blocked after French satellite operator Eutelsat suspended their broadcast.
This is not the first time that Israel has targeted media outlets and service providers. Previously in 2018, during the 38th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC), the MADA Center raised this issue through an oral intervention under agenda item 3 on the Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development.
MADA provided evidence of the IOF adopting an official policy not only to ban or prevent press coverage, but also to present a clear and systematic threat to the lives of Palestinian journalists that was clearly demonstrated during the return marches that began in Gaza on 30 March, 2018.
In March 2019, the MADA Center further called for States to exert the necessary efforts to follow up on the Israeli violations committed against Palestinian journalists and to take legal measures that compel Israel as an occupying power to comply with and abide by international human rights law, in particular those relating to freedom of opinion and expression and freedom of the press, during the 40th regular session of the HRC under item 7 on the Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories.
In the ongoing war against Gaza, the IOF have arrested more than 26 journalists from the West Bank. Cases include the following:
We at the MADA Center are concerned about the systematic targeting of journalists by Israeli authorities and the policy of intimidation and threats whether by Israeli state officials, settlers, or the IOF. We further express our concern towards the deliberate targeting of journalists not only physically but also psychologically which, in turn, increases the practice of self-censorship among journalists and could force them to abandon their careers.
To date, dozens of journalists have already lost their careers due to the continued threats and direct risks they face in the course of their work under occupation. Through journalist testimonies, it has become clear that the goal is to silence and break the Palestinian media through a policy of attrition by targeting journalists with metal and rubber bullets, sound bombs, gas bombs, and other types of violations and arrests.
Moreover, we are certain that targeting Palestinian media is now a systematic policy practiced by Israel that involves but is not limited to the following:
These measures aim to silence Palestinian voices through shutting down media outlets and service provider companies, and physically assaulting and threatening Palestinian journalists. To escape international accountability, the occupation has tried to fabricate accusations of political affiliation through the course of our work in media, but Palestinian journalists have remained steadfast in rejecting Israel’s brutal policies and persecution of Palestinian media. In the face of the occupation’s policies, the MADA Center is taking broader steps in solidarity and to ensure the safety of journalists and protection of Palestinian media.
The MADA Center calls upon the Security Council, through Arab representatives, to hold a special session to discuss the freedom of the Palestinian media under occupation. We also call on the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to formulate a clear strategy to deal with these violations. And to our Palestinian people, we say: coverage will continue, injustice will fade.