A new report by the Freedoms Committee of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has revealed that 44 Palestinian journalists were killed by Israeli occupation forces inside displacement tents in the Gaza Strip, among a total of 254 media workers martyred since the start of the Israeli aggression in October 2023.

The comprehensive documentation, covering the two-year period through October 2025, details a pattern of deliberate and systematic targeting of journalists, their shelters, and media infrastructure — even in areas officially designated as safe zones.

According to the report, journalists who had been forced to flee their bombed homes set up temporary tents near hospitals, schools, and UNRWA shelters — the few remaining places of relative safety. Yet, even these sites came under direct attack from Israeli artillery shelling, airstrikes, and sniper fire, often with precision-guided weapons.

“The occupation army has not only destroyed the homes and offices of Palestinian journalists but hunted them down even in their displacement tents,” the report stated, describing the campaign as an attempt to “silence witnesses and erase evidence of Israeli war crimes in Gaza.”

The Freedoms Committee emphasized that these attacks on civilian journalists and humanitarian zones constitute war crimes under Article 79 of the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions, which guarantees protection for journalists in conflict zones. It added that no military activity was present near the targeted tents, debunking any Israeli claims of “erroneous targeting.”

The report points out that the precision of the strikes and the repeated targeting of clusters of journalists demonstrate intentional efforts to suppress documentation of atrocities being committed against the Palestinian people. It warned that the destruction of Gaza’s media sector forms part of a wider campaign to obliterate the Palestinian narrative and prevent the world from seeing the full scale of civilian suffering.

“Israel has turned journalists into military targets simply for carrying their cameras and microphones,” the report said, calling this “a direct attack on truth and humanity.”

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has urged the formation of an independent international commission to investigate the targeted killings of journalists, and to activate International Criminal Court (ICC) mechanisms to prosecute those responsible for war crimes.

The committee also called for the immediate creation of safe corridors and protected zones for journalists inside Gaza, as well as urgent international support from UNESCO, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), and global human rights organizations. It emphasized the need to compile a comprehensive legal database documenting all violations against media workers for use in future judicial proceedings.

Since October 2023, Israel’s relentless war on Gaza has not only killed tens of thousands of civilians but also decimated the Palestinian media community — the very people documenting the destruction. Many of the journalists killed were reporting from hospitals, schools, and UN shelters when Israeli forces struck.

The Freedoms Committee concluded its report by asserting that the continued killing of journalists and destruction of Gaza’s media sector represents “a war on truth and humanity itself,” and called upon the international community to break its silence and hold Israel accountable for its crimes. (ILKHA)