Reporters without Borders urged UNESCO to award the prize to four prominent Palestinian journalists and “pay tribute” to all of Gaza’s fearless reporters.
Reporters without Borders (RSF) is nominating prominent Palestinian journalists, who have tirelessly reported on Israel’s war crimes committed in Gaza, to receive a coveted UNESCO world press freedom prize.
The international press freedom watchdog said in a press release published on Tuesday that it urged UNESCO to award this year’s Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to the four Palestinians.
RSF added that it would be a fitting tribute “to the exceptional work of Gaza’s reporters since 7 October”.
Since then, Israel has shown no let up in its onslaught of the besieged Gaza Strip.
Gaza’s Ministry of Public Health has reported that the enclave suffered at least 28,473 fatalities. Israel’s bombardment has left a further 68,146 Palestinians injured and crippled Gaza’s health sector.
According to the latest impact report from the United Nations’ humanitarian office (UN OCHA), just 11 hospitals in Gaza are bearing the strain of this horrific humanitarian crisis. Three of these hospitals are functioning at minimal capacity amid critical shortages of fuel, medicine and blood products.
In addition to flouting the rights of civilians during conflict, Israel’s indiscriminate air, land and sea offensives have taken a toll on journalists on the ground reporting on the carnage that has been induced by the aggressor.
Gaza’s Media Office reported that at least 124 journalists and media workers have been killed since October 7.
In a statement, RSF’s secretary general, Christophe Deloire, said that the nomination of four Palestinian journalists was to sound the alarm to UNESCO.
Deloire added that “Gazan journalists are giving their lives for the right to information. They must be supported, they must be protected, and they must be honoured.”
Who are RSF’s nominees?
The nominees put forward include Al Jazeera’s tenacious Gaza bureau chief, Wael Dahdouh.
RSF described Dahdouh as “a leading example of resilience and the defence of journalistic freedom, he never stopped reporting the news, despite losing his loved-ones.”
January 7 saw Al Jazeera break the news of the death of his eldest son, 27-year-old Hamza Al Dahdouh, to a fatal Israeli airstrike. The targeted drone attack struck the vehicle Hamza was in and also killed his colleague, Mustafa Thuraya.
In October, Israeli bombardment mercilessly killed his wife, Amna, his 15-year-old son, Mahmoud, seven-year-old daughter, Sham and one-year-old grandson, Adam.
In January, Dahdouh landed in Qatar to receive medical treatment after sustaining an injury during an Israeli airstrike.
Former freelance translator and photographer turned photojournalist, Motaz Azaiza, has also been nominated. The 24-year-old lost 15 members of his family in October in Israeli strikes. However, the young photographer tirelessly documented the unsettling scenes of the aftermath of Israel’s brutal aggression through his photography.
In January, he announced that after 108 days of extensive coverage, he would be evacuating to Qatar.
RSF also nominated Aseel Mousa – a Palestinian freelance journalist based in Gaza and one of the last reporters still working in the Strip. Her work, which highlights the strain faced by pregnant Palestinian women amid the destruction of Gaza’ health sector, has featured in outlets such as Al Jazeera, The Intercept and Middle East Eye.
RSF’s correspondent in Gaza since 2018, Ola Al Zaanoun, was also nominated. An evacuation order issued by Israel forced her, her husband and twin children to flee to Khan Younis on October 13. Later, on October 24, Al Zaanoun sustained a leg injury amid Israeli shelling and was admitted to Nasser Hospital.
What is the Guillermo Cano Prize?
The UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was established in 1997 following the 1986 assassination of Colombian newspaper editor, Guillermo Cano Isaza.
It is awarded to people, organisations of institutions for their commendable efforts in promoting and defending world press freedoms – especially during times of conflict.
Since 1997, the ceremony has annually coincided with World Press Freedom Day: May 3.
In the run up to this year’s award ceremony, Deloire warned that as Israel’s war on Gaza enters 131 days, “the last bastions of journalism in Gaza are in danger of being snuffed out amid a deafening silence from the international community and the UN Security Council.”
The RSF news release added that without Gaza’s frontline journalists, the worsening situation would have become a “news black hole,” as Israel has weaponised connectivity in the enclave, cutting Gaza off from access to electricity since October as a tactic of warfare.
RSF added that the four Palestinian journalists that they have nominated on behalf of all their colleagues, stand as exemplars of “courage, determination and self-sacrifice.”
