The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) first began to document the loss of journalists and media workers in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory in 1992. Since then, a total of 148 deaths have been recorded. As of October 7, 2023, CPJ recorded 128 of those deaths: two Israeli, three Lebanese, and 123 Palestinian journalists. Five of the Palestinian deaths, after extensive investigation, have been confirmed as targeted murders.
On October 13, 2023, Issam Abdallah was killed while working on an assignment for the international news agency Reuters. He was working with Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, fellow Reuters journalists, Elie Brakhya and Carmen Joukhadar of the news agency Al-Jazeera, and Christina Assi and Dylan Collins of Agence France-Presse. The journalists were directly targeted twice. The first strike killed Abdallah and wounded the other six journalists. Assi’s leg had to be amputated following the attack. The second strike hit an Al-Jazeera news vehicle. The journalists were located in an area under heavy surveillance by the Israeli army. Their flak jackets were adorned with ‘press’ and the hood of one of their cars had ‘TV’ written on it. There was no active fighting in the area.
On January 7, 2024, Hamza Al Dahouh and Mustafa Thuraya were directly targeted by a drone strike. The two journalists were on an assignment for Al-Jazeera, filming the aftermath of the Israeli strike in southern Gaza that destroyed the Abu al-Naja family home, when they were killed. Palestine Today journalists Amer Abu Amr and Ahmed al-Bursh were on the scene at the time. Upon leaving the site, Abu Amr and al-Bursh were injured by an Israel drone strike. They were in an ambulance, on their way to a hospital when a second strike occurred, hitting the vehicle behind them, carrying Al Dahouh and Thuraya. The vehicle was occupied by two others, The driver Qusai Salem who was killed, and Hazem Rajab, another journalist at the scene, who was severely injured. Israel Defence Force (IDF) confirmed it was a targeted attack, claiming there was a terrorist on board. Appeals made by the Committee to Protect Journalism to have the terrorist identified have gone unacknowledged by the IDF.
In late July, 2024, Ismail Al Ghoul and Rami Al Refee were directly targeted by an Israel drone strike. The night before the attack, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeah had been assassinated in Iran. His family home was located in northern Gaza, where Al Ghoul and Al Refee filmed a piece regarding him. The two came out of an initial strike onsite unscathed, but upon leaving the scene, their vehicle was stuck. They too were wearing ‘press’ vests and their vehicle was marked as ‘TV.’ On July 31, Al-Jazeera released a statement regarding the death of Ismail Al Ghoul and Rami Al Refee, referencing a “systematic targeting campaign against the network’s journalists.” The IDF responded the next day confirming that it was a targeted attack, stating that Al Ghoul had been “actively involved in recording and publicizing attacks against IDF troops,” and that “his activities in the field were a vital part of Hamas’ military activity.”
Civilians are protected from pursuit by International Law. The direct targeting of civilians is a war crime. Journalists are civilians. In all three instances, the victims were visibly marked as journalists. The murders of Ismail Al Ghoul, Rami Al Refee, Hamza Al Dahouh, Mustafa Thuraya, and Issam Abdallah are war crimes. For more information, please visit the Community to Protect Journalism website at cpj.org.
