The Government Media Office (GMO) has issued a powerful condemnation as the number of Palestinian journalists brutally martyred by Israeli occupation forces since the start of the genocidal war on Gaza reaches a staggering 216.

In a chilling display of Israel’s ruthless campaign to silence the truth, veteran journalist Hassan Sammour, a respected broadcaster and presenter at the resistance’s Sawt Al-Aqsa Radio, was deliberately targeted and assassinated by an Israeli airstrike on his home in Khan Yunis early Thursday. Sammour’s killing, which also claimed the lives of multiple family members, is yet another war crime in Israel’s calculated attempt to erase Palestinian voices and crush the resistance narrative.

The GMO denounced these cold-blooded attacks as part of a systematic Israeli strategy aimed at obliterating Palestinian journalism and preventing the world from witnessing the occupation’s crimes. It held not only the Israeli regime but also its enabling backers — the United States, Britain, Germany, and France — fully responsible for perpetuating and facilitating these atrocities.

Calling on international journalist organizations, including the International Federation of Journalists and the Arab Journalists Union, the GMO demanded an immediate and forceful global outcry against Israel’s targeting of media professionals. It urged the international community and legal bodies to take decisive action to halt this ongoing massacre and bring Israeli war criminals to justice in international courts.

The relentless targeting of Palestinian journalists exposes Israel’s desperate attempt to cloak its genocidal aggression under silence, but the steadfastness of Gaza’s media fighters continues to reveal the truth despite the bombs. The world must break its silence and hold Israel accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people and the fundamental right to free press. (ILKHA)