Reporters Without Borders declares Israel 'worst enemy of journalists'

The Israeli army remains the single largest cause of death for journalists worldwide  

News Desk - The Cradle 

Nearly half of all journalists killed across the world between 1 December 2024 and 1 December 2025 were victims of the Israeli army, according to a new report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

RSF’s annual assessment describes 2025 as one of the deadliest years for media workers, driven by what the organization calls the targeted killing of reporters by state militaries, paramilitary groups, and criminal networks.

According to the report, 67 journalists were killed over the past 12 months. RSF says at least 53 of those cases occurred in war zones or at the hands of criminal organizations. 

The organization attributes 43 percent of all deaths to Israeli armed forces operating in Gaza, placing Israel at the center of the year’s global toll. 

RSF also cites continuing attacks by the Russian army on foreign and Ukrainian journalists in Ukraine, while describing Sudan as an increasingly lethal environment for news coverage.

Israel’s conduct drew further condemnation after Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham disclosed that the military intelligence directorate created a “Legitimization Cell” whose mission was to search for material that could be used to justify the killing of Palestinian journalists in Gaza by portraying them as Hamas operatives.

Outside of active war fronts, Mexico remains the world’s second most dangerous country for journalists. 

RSF links nine killings there to organized crime groups, noting that 2025 marks the most violent year for Mexican reporters in at least three years. 

The report also notes that most of the journalists killed were citizens of the countries in which they died, with only two of this year’s victims being foreign reporters killed abroad.

One was French photojournalist Antoni Lallican, killed by a Russian drone strike in Ukraine, and the other was Salvadorian journalist Javier Hercules, killed in Honduras after more than a decade of residence there.

Israel continues to bar foreign reporters from independent access to Gaza – even as the ceasefire approaches its second phase – as confirmed by a high court decision granting the government yet another delay on a petition filed nearly two years ago at the beginning of the genocide in Gaza, seeking unrestricted entry for international media.

Data from previous years shows that since the start of the Gaza genocide over two years ago, nearly 300 journalists have been killed by Israeli forces, making Israel the world’s deadliest country for reporters for three consecutive years.

The latest report identifies 503 detained journalists around the world. China remains the largest jailer with 121 detainees.

Russia follows with 48, including 26 Ukrainians, which RSF says makes Russia the state holding the most foreign journalists in custody. Myanmar ranks third with 47. 

Syria remains the country with the highest number of missing journalists, as many detained under the former Syrian government have still not been located one year after its fall.

In presenting the findings, RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire condemned escalating hostility toward the press. 

“This is where the hatred of journalists leads! It led to the death of 67 journalists this year – not by accident, and they weren’t collateral victims. They were killed, targeted for their work,” he said.

He added that criticism of the media is legitimate when it strengthens the press, but warned that it “must never descend into hatred of journalists, which is largely born out of – or deliberately stoked by – the tactics of armed forces and criminal organisations.”

Deloire linked the killings to what he described as global political failures, saying, “This is where impunity for these crimes leads us: the failure of international organisations that are no longer able to ensure journalists’ right to protection in armed conflicts is the consequence of a global decline in the courage of governments, which should be implementing protective public policies.”

He said journalists have become “collateral victims, inconvenient eyewitnesses, bargaining chips, pawns in diplomatic games, men and women to be ‘eliminated.’” 

“We must be wary of false notions about reporters,” Deloire warned. “No one gives their lives for journalism – it is taken from them; journalists do not just die – they are killed.”