Palestinians line up to receive free meals at Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on March 18, 2024
ISRAEL is systematically killing healthcare workers and journalists in Gaza, doctors said today, in a direct plea for British media to scrutinise their country’s complicity in genocide.
At a London press conference on Gaza’s media blackout, hospital doctors gave first-hand accounts of how colleagues and reporters have been abducted, tortured and killed.
The British Palestinian Committee (BPC) and the UK Gaza Community (UKGC) hosted the event hours after Reporters Without Borders (RSF) revealed that Israeli armed forces were behind a third of the 54 journalists killed worldwide because of their work in 2024.
“Palestine is the most dangerous country for journalists, recording a higher death toll than any other country over the past five years,” the organisation said in its annual report, describing the number of killings as “an unprecedented bloodbath.”
RSF has filed four complaints with the International Criminal Court for “war crimes committed against journalists by the Israeli army.”
It said more than 145 journalists had been killed by the Israeli army in Gaza since October 2023.
At least 1,000 health workers have also been killed there during the Israeli onslaught.
At the conference, Dr Mohamed Ashraf showed photos of several colleagues who have been killed or abducted by Israeli forces since October 7.
“These are real people, these are real stories,” he said, describing how Dr Mosab Samman was abducted from Nasser Hospital in March, saying that the only offence he committed was volunteering to help his people inside the hospital.
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWREGenocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
Journalist Hassan Hamad holds a photo of Ismael al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi, Palestinian reporters also killed by Israel in Gaza. (Photo: Maha Hussaini/X)
“Western journalists and editors should hang their heads in shame for their outrageous silence in the face of these crimes,” said one professor.
Journalists around the world expressed outrage Monday over the Israeli military’s killing of a teenage Palestinian reporter who continued showing the world the destruction of Gaza despite threats to his life—and at the Western media’s silence on the story.
Hassan Hamad, 19, whose work appeared on Al Jazeera and other outlets, was killed Sunday in an Israeli drone strike on his home in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, The Palestine Chronicle reported. The bombing followed multiple text messages warning Hamad to stop recording images of Israel’s assault on Gaza, which has killed or injured nearly 150,000 Palestinians and for which the close U.S. ally is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice.
Palestinian journalist Maha Hussaini posted a photo of one threatening WhatsApp message sent to Hamad. It read, “Listen, if you continue spreading lies about Israel, we’ll come for you next and turn your family into… This is your last warning.”
Hussaini said that Hamad also received “several calls from an Israeli officer ordering him to stop filming in Gaza.”
“He didn’t comply,” she wrote. “He was killed today.”
Hassan Hamad was a 19-year-old Palestinian journalist who tried to document one of the worst crimes of our age in impossible circumstances.
The Israeli state threatened to murder him unless he fell silent.
A colleague of Hamad’s wrote on the slain journalist’s X account:
With great sadness and pain, I mourn the journalist Hassan Hamad… Hamad, the journalist who is not yet 20 years old, resisted for a whole year in his own special way. He resisted when he was away from his family so that they would not be targeted. He resisted when he was suffering to find an internet signal and would sit for an hour or two on the roof of the house to send videos that reach you in seconds. Yesterday, since 10:00, he was moving between the bombed areas and returning to search for an internet signal, then returning to cover the places of the remains, suffering from an injury he sustained in his leg. Nevertheless, he completed filming. At 6:00 am, he called me to send me the last video. After a call that did not exceed a few seconds, he was saying, “Hey, hey, it’s done,” and he hung up. This is a feeling that no human being can bear. Hassan also resisted the occupation and left a mark and left a message that we will complete after him.
Journalists and others posted graphic video footage of pieces of Hamad’s remains being collected and placed in a shoebox.
“I will never forget the silence of the media industry about this,” Al Jazeera executive producer Laila Al-Arian wrote in a social media post containing the video.
I just saw my friend and colleague Hassan Hamad an hour ago Israeli occupation forces have just killed him, and what remains of his body is in pieces in a plastic bag. Why do I have to see my friends in plastic bags? Why is this world so cruel to us?
Thomson Reuters Foundation deputy editor-in-chief Barry Malone responded to Hassan’s killing by asking, “If you’re a journalist and you’re not speaking out in solidarity… why?”
Anthropology professor Jason Hickel said that “we can never unsee the images of journalist Hassan Hamad’s remains, after he was assassinated by Israeli forces.”
“Western journalists and editors should hang their heads in shame for their outrageous silence in the face of these crimes,” he added.
🚨Breaking: Israeli army have killed journalist Hassan Hamad @Hassan_hamad77 by bombing his family’s home in northern #Gaza.
Not long before, he had shared a video from inside his home, capturing the brutal airstrikes surrounding him. pic.twitter.com/XXwMu4lZoF
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says that “at least 128 journalists and media workers, all but five of them Palestinian, have been killed—more journalists than have died in the course of any year since CPJ began documenting journalist killings in 1992.”
“All of the killings, except two Israeli journalists killed in the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, were carried out by Israeli forces,” the group added. “CPJ has found that at least five journalists were specifically targeted by Israel for their work.”
Gaza’s Government Media Office (GMO) said Sunday that 175 media workers have been killed in the embattled enclave over the past year.
The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has filed multiple complaints at the International Criminal Court—whose chief prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leaders—alleging “war crimes against journalists in Gaza.”
#Gaza: 🔴 Hassan Hamad, one of the last journalists still reporting from the northern enclave, was killed yesterday, in a targeted Israeli strike, according to RSF’s information, as he was about to send footage from home after a report. Impunity must end.https://t.co/SaiE2HgQJ8pic.twitter.com/9x0CTtNAXI
A funeral ceremony is held for Palestine TV correspondent Mohammed Abu Hatab, who was killed, along with his family members, in an airstrike on his home in Khan Yunis, Gaza on November 3, 2023. (Photo: Abed Zagout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“The only thing that can explain the shocking silence of American and international media professionals about the mass killing of their Palestinian colleagues is the decadeslong and systematic dehumanization of the Palestinian people.”
The largest U.S. Muslim advocacy group on Friday implored American and international media outlets to speak out against Israel’s killing of more than 100 journalists, almost all of them Palestinians, during the ongoing assault on Gaza.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) renewed its plea following Israeli airstrikes on the homes of Palestine TV journalist Tamim Ma’mmar and Al-Aqsa TV‘s Abdullah Al-Sousi. Ma’mmar was killed along with his wife and two of their children, while the other attack killed Al-Sousi and two of his nephews, according to Quds News Network.
“The only thing that can explain the shocking silence of American and international media professionals about the mass killing of their Palestinian colleagues is the decadeslong and systematic dehumanization of the Palestinian people, in which the lives of Palestinians have lesser or no value,” CAIR national communications director Ibrahim Cooper said in a statement.
“Journalists worldwide must begin to speak out about these killings and about the Israeli genocide in Gaza,” he added.
Israel is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Its 308-day assault on Gaza has left more than 142,000 Palestinians dead, wounded, or missing, according to local and international officials.
Preliminary investigations by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists found that at least 113 media professionals—including 108 Palestinians, three Lebanese, and two Israelis—have been killed during the war, “making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.”
CPJ has condemned what it called an “apparent pattern of targeting journalists and their families,” noting cases in which media workers were killed while wearing press insignia and after being threatened by Israeli officials.
Gaza’s Government Media Office said this week that Israeli forces have killed 166 journalists since October.
In May, the Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) filed a third complaint at the International Criminal Court alleging “war crimes against journalists in Gaza.”
RSF said it had “reasonable grounds for thinking that some of these journalists were deliberately killed and that the others were the victims of deliberate IDF attacks against civilians” and accused Israel of “an eradication of the Palestinian media.”
The following month, the Gaza Project—led by the Paris-based nonprofit Forbidden Stories—published a report detailing a “chilling pattern” of Israeli forces apparently targeting journalists during the war.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have called for official investigations into Israeli killing of journalists including an October 13 attack that killed 37-year-old Lebanese Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and wounded half a dozen other journalists who were covering cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon.
Dylan Collins, an American deputy editor at Al Jazeera English, was wounded while administering first aid to Christina Assi, an Agence-France Presse journalist who was seriously wounded in the attack. Assi-one of whose legs was amputated—recently carried the Olympic torch in Paris.
CPJ president Jodie Ginsburg recently told Al Jazeera that the killing of journalists by Israeli forces “appears to be part of a broader strategy that aims to stifle the information coming out of Gaza.”
Palestinian journalists stage a protest to draw attention to Palestinian press killed while covering the war in the Gaza Strip on February 26, 2024 in Rafah. (Photo: Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images)
Reporters Without Borders says it has “reasonable grounds for thinking that some of these journalists were deliberately killed and that the others were the victims of deliberate IDF attacks against civilians.”
The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders announced Monday that it has filed a third complaint at the International Criminal Court alleging “war crimes against journalists in Gaza,” where over 100 media professionals have been killed by Israeli forces since October 7.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is asking the ICC to investigate the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) killing of eight Palestinian journalists and wounding of another between December 15 and May 20 and, more broadly, the over 100 media workers slain during the course of Israel’s 234-day assault on Gaza.
RSF said it “has reasonable grounds for thinking that some of these journalists were deliberately killed and that the others were the victims of deliberate IDF attacks against civilians” and accused Israel of “an eradication of the Palestinian media.”
“Impunity endangers journalists not only in Palestine but also throughout the world,” RSF advocacy and assistance director Antoine Bernard said in a statement. “Those who kill journalists are attacking the public’s right to information, which is even more essential in times of conflict. They must be held accountable, and RSF will continue to work to this end, in solidarity with Gaza’s reporters.”
#Gaza: RSF files a third complaint with @IntlCrimCourt about war crimes committed by #Israel against journalists. We call on the prosecutor to investigate the cases of more than 100 journalists killed by the Israeli army in Gaza since October 7. 👇https://t.co/rep3ZdIoxt
Journalists in RSF’s latest complaint include Mustapha Thuraya and Hamza al-Dahdouh, freelancers working for Al Jazeera in Rafah when they were killed by a targeted Israeli drone strike on their vehicle on January 7, and Hazem Rajab, who was injured in the strike.
According to RSF:
The complaint also cites the cases of Hadaf News website reporter Ahmed Badir, who was killed by an airstrike at the entrance to Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah on 10 January; Kan’an News Agency correspondent Yasser Mamdouh, who was killed near Al-Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on 11 February; Ayat Khadoura, an independent video blogger killed by an Israeli strike on his home on 20 November shortly after posting a video; Yazan Emad Al-Zwaidi, a cameraman with the Egyptian satellite TV news channel Al Ghad, who was killed on 14 January when an Israeli strike hit the group of civilians he was with in Beit Hanoun; Ahmed Fatima, a journalist with the Al Qahera News TV channel, who was killed during a bombardment in Khan Yunis on 13 November; and Rami Bdeir, a reporter for the Palestinian New Press media outlet, who was killed during an Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis on 15 December.
Another advocacy group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, previously condemned what it called an “apparent pattern of targeting journalists and their families,” noting cases in which media workers were killed while wearing press insignia and after being threatened by Israeli officials.
Monday marked the ninth anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2222, which concerns the protection of journalists in conflict zones and “emphasizes the responsibility of states to comply with the relevant obligations under international law to end impunity and to prosecute those responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law.”
Last month, Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, said: “Killing journalists is a war crime that undermines the most basic human rights. Justice starts with the cessation of injustice.”
An Israel Defense Forces tank and soldiers are seen in this view of Gaza from southern Israel on May 15, 2024. (Photo: Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)
One NGO called the move “yet another attempt by Israel to hide its war crimes against Palestinians.”
The White House and press freedom advocates were among those who on Tuesday criticized the Israeli government’s shutdown of The Associated Press‘ live video shot of northern Gaza for violating a new media law by providing access to the banned Al Jazeera network.
The AP said Israeli authorities confiscated its camera and broadcasting equipment from a home in the southern Israeli city of Sderot. The live shot was broadcast from a balcony on the home.
“The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government to shut down our long-standing live feed showing a view into Gaza and seize AP equipment,” said Lauren Easton, vice president of corporate communications at the New York-based news organization.
“The shutdown was not based on the content of the feed but rather an abusive use by the Israeli government of the country’s new foreign broadcaster law,” Easton added. “We urge the Israeli authorities to return our equipment and enable us to reinstate our live feed immediately so we can continue to provide this important visual journalism to thousands of media outlets around the world.”
In its latest assault on press freedom, Israel has confiscated equipment from the Associated Press and shut down live coverage from northern Gaza — yet another attempt by Israel to hide its war crimes against Palestinians.https://t.co/KVIIQKwSso
The law to which Easton referred empowers the Israeli government to shut down the operations of foreign media outlets if they are deemed national security threats. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right Cabinet used the law to ban Qatar-based Al Jazeera—the sole international media outlet providing 24/7 live coverage from Gaza—from operating in Israel.
Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said the AP broke the foreign broadcaster law by providing the live feed to Al Jazeera, one of thousands of AP clients. Karhi accused the AP of “causing real harm to the security of the state.”
“It should be noted that a warning was given to the AP agency already last week that according to the law and the government’s decision they are prohibited from providing broadcasts to Al Jazeera, however they decided to continue broadcasting on the channel,” Karhi said.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to New Hampshire on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that U.S. President Joe Biden believes journalists should be free to do their jobs. Addressing Israel’s shutdown of the AP live feed, Jean-Pierre said, “Obviously this is concerning and we want to look into it.”
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) was one of several press freedom groups that condemned Israel’s shutdown of the AP live feed.
“After having banned Al Jazeera, Israel is lashing out at the AP,” RSF said in a statement. “RSF denounces the seizure of the news outlet’s camera and the interruption of the continuous feed that films Gaza under the pretext that these images are supplying, among others, Al Jazeera.”
After banning @AlJazeera, #Israel goes after @AP. RSF denounces the seizure of a news agency's camera and the shut down of a live feed showing a view of #Gaza, on the pretext that these images are supplied to @AlJazeera, among other media. This is outrageous censorship.
The U.S. advocacy group Freedom of the Press Foundation said on social media that “Israel is now using its Al Jazeera ban as a pretext to seize equipment belonging to one of the world’s largest news agencies, stripping millions of people of a view into Gaza at a time of war and mass atrocities.”
Kenneth Roth, a visiting professor at Princeton University in New Jersey and former head of Human Rights Watch, said that “rather than stop the war crimes charged yesterday by the International Criminal Court, Israel tries to cover them up.”
Roth was referring to Monday’s decision by ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the October 7 attacks on Israel and that country’s genocidal retaliation—which has killed, wounded, or left missing more than 126,000 Palestinians, according to Gazan and international officials.
More than 100 journalists, the vast majority of them Palestinians, have been killed by Israeli forces since October 7 in what the Committee to Protect Journalists and others say are often intentional targetings of not only media workers but also their families. Previous investigations—including the probe of Israeli troops’ 2022 killing of Palestinian American Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh—have confirmed that Israel has deliberately targeted journalists.
Israeli forces have also attacked newsrooms during every major Gaza war, including in May 2021 when the 11-story al-Jalaa Tower—which housed offices of Al Jazeera, AP, and other media outlets—was leveled in an airstrike.
Even Yair Lapid, who leads Israel’s political opposition and is a former journalist, called the AP shutdown “an act of madness.”
“This is an American media outlet that has won 53 Pulitzer Prizes,” Lapid said in a statement. “This government behaves as if it has decided to make sure at any cost that Israel will be outcast all over the world. They went mad.”
