Reporters on the ground in Gaza are vulnerable to harassment and arrest from Israel’s occupation forces. While held in administrative detention, some journalists reported experiencing physical harm.
Two Palestinian journalists were killed in overnight strikes on central Gaza by Israel, the enclave’s official media office said on Monday.
The journalists, identified as Issam Al Lulu and Mohammed Abdel Fattah Atallah, were killed alongside their families, reports said.
Palestinian news agency Wafa News reported that Al Lulu, who was a journalist and presenter for Palestine TV, died alongside his wife and two sons in the town of Al Zawaida.
Israeli strike hit a house in the west of Al Zawaida killing at least 14 Palestinians and leaving several others injured.
Journalist Atallah worked for the Al Resala Media Foundation. He died, along with his whole family, after Israel’s army struck his home in Gaza’s Shati refugee camp.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported on Monday that Israeli shelling and heavy gunfire continue to blight Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis – including within the vicinity of the Al Amal Hospital.
Since Israel renewed its air, land and sea offensives against the Gaza Strip on October 7, the latest figures from Palestine’s Health Ministry estimate that at least 26,422 Palestinians have died.
Of that grim figure, 122 of the casualties are journalists and media personnel.
Israel continues its onslaught on the enclave despite the anticipated International Court of Justice (ICJ) verdict on Friday, which found a ‘plausible risk’ of Israel having committed genocide in Gaza.
As part of the ruling, the ICJ has ordered Israel not to kill Palestinian civilians or continue to cause serious bodily or mental harm.
Israeli officials instantly responded to the ruling – denouncing South Africa’s complaint and the World Court’s authority.
In a statement after the judgement was made, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the case as “outrageous”.
He added that Israel’s occupation forces (IOF) will continue “to do what is necessary” in their indiscriminate bid to “eliminate” Hamas.
Israeli human rights abuses against journalists
In addition to killing media personnel reporting on atrocities being committed in Gaza, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has documented multiple instances of journalists on the ground in Gaza being the targets of harassment and arrest campaigns by the IOF.
Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, said that “journalists in Gaza are facing exponential risk”.
According to the press freedom watchdog in a January 24 report, at least 25 Palestinian journalists have been arrested by the IOF.
In the cases of Moath Amarneh, who is still imprisoned and Mosab Abu Toha, who has been freed, the CPJ found that both media professionals experienced physical harm by the IOF.
While others like Abu Toha have been released, many remain behind bars in administrative detention in Israel.
As per the aggressor’s ‘Security Provisions Order’ doctrine, Israel routinely preemptively jails Palestinians that they suspect will commit crimes in the future.
