Globally, 104 journalists and media workers were murdered in 2024 – and more than half of them were in Palestine.
According to the International Federation of Journalists, journalists there have encountered death more often than their colleagues in any other country.
Research by the IFJ, an impartial organization representing the rights of media workers, found that 55 journalists have been killed in Palestine this year, compared to 49 in the rest of the world. Their figures do not include arrested journalists (75 Palestinian journalists have been imprisoned since October 2023, and only 30 of them have been released) nor those who are injured (about 49) or missing (at least two).
Since Israel banned the entry of foreign journalists into Gaza, only Palestinians have been able to report on the violence and human rights violations committed in the area.
For the Palestinian journalists who were not killed by the Israeli army, working conditions are still virtually impossible. According to a survey by ARIJ, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, more than 90% said they had lost equipment essential for reporting and were left without essential protective equipment such as helmets.
The same study also showed that they try to continue working professionally after enormous personal losses. Nearly 100% of journalists surveyed said they had been forced from their homes, nearly 90% said their homes had been destroyed and more than one in five journalists reported losing at least one family member as a result of the Israeli bombing and aid restrictions .
Related: Toys, spices, sewing machines: the items Israel has banned from entering Gaza
All these figures are likely underestimates, as accurate data on fatalities in Palestine is virtually impossible. Although sources agree that Palestine is the most dangerous place to work, Reporters Without Borders gives a lower number and estimates that 54 journalists will be killed worldwide in 2024. This is largely due to a much narrower definition of killings of journalists, which only includes those proven to be directly related to their professional activity.”
Even with that narrower definition, the organization found that “more than 155 journalists have been killed by the Israeli army in Gaza and Lebanon since October 2023, an unprecedented massacre. RSF has ample evidence that at least 40 of them were deliberately targeted for their journalism.” The Committee to Protect Journalists, which also makes distinctions about targeting, found that the motive for 63 murders was confirmed, although they consider Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories as one place in their data set.
After Palestine, the most dangerous places to be a journalist in 2024 were Lebanon and Pakistan (6 journalists killed in each country), Sudan, Bangladesh and Mexico (5 killed in each country) and Ukraine (4 journalists killed).
