CPJ said this was the second consecutive record year for press fatalities, driven “primarily due to the actions of one government,” and argued that Israel’s “continued and unprecedented targeting of journalists and media workers” has helped push killings to an all-time high.
The report said at least 104 of the 129 journalists killed in 2025 died in war zones, adding that “the majority were Palestinians killed by Israel.”
Of the 86 journalists and media workers killed by Israeli fire that year, more than 60 percent were Palestinians reporting from Gaza, “where human rights groups and U.N. experts agree a genocide is taking place.”
CPJ stated that the Israeli army “has committed more targeted killings of journalists than any other government’s military since CPJ began documentation in 1992,” and that it documented 47 cases of targeted killings in 2025 classified as “Murder,” with Israel responsible for 81 percent of those cases.
“Journalists are being killed in record numbers at a time when access to information is more important than ever,” CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg said.
“Attacks on the media are a leading indicator of attacks on other freedoms,” she said, adding that “We are all at risk when journalists are killed for reporting the news.”
CPJ said “very few transparent investigations” have been conducted into targeted killings it documented in 2025, and that no one has been held accountable in any of those cases.
The CPJ report also pointed to the rise of drone attacks on press members, saying suspected and documented drone killings jumped from two in 2023 to 39 in 2025, including 28 by Israel’s military in Gaza.
CPJ cited the killing of Palestinian correspondent Hossam Shabat on 24 March 2025, saying he “was blown up by an Israeli drone that directly targeted him,” and that Israel accused him of being “a Hamas sniper without providing credible evidence.”
An earlier report by the CPJ reported that Palestinian journalists detained in Israeli prisons have been subjected to “systematic abuse,” including rape, torture, starvation, and medical neglect.
Based on interviews with 59 journalists, CPJ said “all but one reported being subjected to what they described as torture, abuse, or other forms of violence,” adding that “the scale and consistency of these testimonies point to something far beyond isolated misconduct.”
Detainees described beatings, sexual violence, “ghost hanging,” and prolonged restraint in extreme conditions. One journalist said guards raped him in Megiddo Prison.
CPJ documented at least 94 journalists detained since October 2023, most held indefinitely without charge under administrative detention, with none prosecuted, saying the pattern “expose[s] a deliberate strategy to intimidate and silence journalists.”
As part of its crackdown on press freedom and targeting of journalists, Israel’s Defense Ministry designated five Palestinian media outlets in occupied East Jerusalem as “terrorist organizations,” accusing them of “incitement” and alleged ties to Hamas – claims that have been repeatedly unsubstantiated.
In December 2025, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) declared Israel the “worst enemy of journalists,” saying the Israeli army was responsible for 43 percent of the 67 journalists killed worldwide between 1 December 2024 and 1 December 2025.
The group described 2025 as one of the deadliest years on record for media workers and said many were “killed, targeted for their work,” not by accident, while also noting the continued Israeli ban on foreign journalists from independent access.
In August 2025, Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham said military intelligence created a “Legitimization Cell” to portray Gaza journalists as Hamas operatives and “whitewash the killing of all other journalists” following the assassination of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif and his crew.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate stated that “The journalist is no longer the sole target. The family has been transformed into a tool of pressure and collective punishment, violating the core principles of international humanitarian law.”
No comments:
Post a Comment