The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) has denounced Israel’s persistent and deliberate targeting of journalists, following a lethal strike on a group of reporters in Gaza that left three dead and several others injured.
On Thursday, the Israeli military carried out a deadly drone strike on the grounds of the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City killing three journalists and wounding four others.
A half dozen other Palestinians were injured in the attack, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
PJS said in a statement that the deadly incident is part of a broader pattern of systematic harassment and violence against media personnel in the region.
The statement added that the ongoing bloody onslaught has so far claimed the lives of 225 journalists and media workers, including 30 female journalists.
Among the victims was Ibrahim Mahameed, the only journalist killed in the West Bank, who lost his life in February 2024, it noted.
PJS also condemned Israel over continuing a policy of enforced disappearance against Palestinian journalists, citing the ongoing lack of information regarding the fate of two missing reporters — Nidal al-Wahidi and Haitham Abdul-Wahed.
The group described the cases of the two journalists as “clear instances of enforced disappearance in violation of international law.”
According to the PJS, Israel refused to disclose any details about the journalists’ whereabouts, in what it called a “blatant breach” of international humanitarian law and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which entered into force in 2010.
Israeli airstrikes and tank shelling have destroyed 115 media institutions in the Gaza Strip, including news agencies, radio and television stations, as well as press offices, the statement highlighted.
The union reaffirmed its commitment to working with international human rights and press freedom organizations to pursue accountability and to seek protection for journalists operating under Israeli occupation.
It warned that the scale of the attacks constituted “the largest massacre against journalists in modern history.”
At least 54,772 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and another 125,834 individuals injured in the brutal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza since October 7, 2023.
