Israel is Journalism’s Number One Enemy:
Two Journalists Killed by Israeli Airstrikes in 2 Separate Crimes in Gaza City and Al-Zawaida Village in Central Gaza Strip
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continue to target and kill journalists as part of Israel’s widescale military aggression on the Gaza Strip ongoing for 15 months now. By this, Israel intends to kill the eyewitnesses to the crime of genocide it is committing against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip under the world’s watch. It is fully clear and decided to exterminate all journalists and reporters who are powerfully covering and livestreaming the crimes committed on the ground. Journalists are pursued while in field or even in their homes with their beloved ones, clearly sending them an intimidating message to deter them from exposing the truth to the whole world. The ongoing targeting and killing of journalists, along with the significant surge in the number of journalists killed, undoubtedly prove that the killings are deliberate and intentional, being an integral part of the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Yesterday morning and at dawn today, two journalists were killed in Israeli airstrikes; one was targeted and killed in Gaza City while on his way to work while the other was killed in an airstrike on his family house in the al-Zawaida area in central Gaza Strip.
In the first crime, at around 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, 02 January 2025, an Israeli drone fired a missile at Hasan Sa’eed Helmi al-Qishawi (29), a freelance journalist, as he was leaving his house at the Palestine Roundabout, west of Gaza City. The airstrike killed Hasan and a passerby, while others sustained various injuries.
As for the second crime, at around 02:04 on Friday, 03 January 2025, Omar al-Derawi, a freelance photojournalist, was killed when Israeli warplanes bombed his family house in al-Zawaida village in central Gaza Strip. As a result, Omar, his father Salah Saleh ‘Ali al-Derawi (45), his mother Khadija Hasan ‘Ali al-Derawi (43), and Shaker ‘Adnan Ibrahim al-Na’ami (22) were killed, while others sustained various injuries.
The number of journalists killed by IOF since 07 October 2024, the onset of the Israeli genocidal campaign on the Gaza Strip, has risen to 203, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office. This war has taken a record toll since the recording of journalist fatalities started in 1992, making Israel fully deserving of being “the number one enemy of journalism.” Among those killed were 20 female journalists. Meanwhile, the majority of journalists (199) were killed in Israeli warplane and drone airstrikes, and the remaining four were shot dead by Israeli snipers. Most journalists were killed alongside their families in targeted attacks on their homes.
Israel, by targeting journalists, aims to monopolize the narrative and orchestrate a media blackout to prevent the world from seeing the atrocities committed against the Palestinian people at the time Israel is denying international journalists access to Gaza to cover the genocide. All of this is part of a full-blown genocidal campaign and other international crimes, by which Israeli is attempting to entrench a second Nakba against 2.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip for over a year.
PCHR believes that Israel continues to pursue a systematic policy to eradicate journalism in the Gaza Strip marked by the direct targeting and blatant disregard for press insignia. Despite journalists wearing their distinctive uniforms and being in an area well known to IOF, they were deliberately targeted and killed.
PCHR asserts that the targeting of journalists intends to isolate the victims and prevent the documentation of Israel’s genocidal acts against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which is an integral part of the crime of genocide. Thus, PCHR calls on the international community to take serious action to stop the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip, to openly condemn the targeting of journalists, to exert pressure on Israel, the occupying power, to immediately stop these attacks, and to urgently provide international protection for civilians, including journalists, in the Gaza Strip.
PCHR reiterates that journalists enjoy special protection under international humanitarian law, akin to civilians. According to Article 79 of Protocol Additional I to the Geneva Conventions, which codifies a rule of customary international law, “journalists engaged in dangerous professional missions in zones of armed conflict are civilians within the meaning of Article 50 (1). “As such, they enjoy the full scope of protection granted to civilians under international human rights law, particularly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Israel has ratified but refuses to apply to the occupied territory, just as it denies the applicability of international humanitarian law.
PCHR emphasizes that the willful killing of journalists constitutes a war crime within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to Article 8 of the ICC Rome Statute. Such an act also constitutes arbitrary deprivation of life under Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the perpetrators must be held accountable. The targeting of journalists is also a violation of the right to freedom of the press and freedom of expression as guaranteed under international human rights law, particularly Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 19 of the ICCPR.
