Dario Sabaghi is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in The Independent, Middle East Eye, Deutsche Welle and other outlets.
Israel's killing of an Al Jazeera crew by an Israeli strike on Aug. 10 has again spotlighted the systematic targeting of journalists during the Gaza war, highlighting the country's long history of attacks on the press in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
The airstrike hit a media tent outside al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, killing Al Jazeera Arabic correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, alongside cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal. The strike also killed freelancers Momen Aliwa and Mohammed al-Khalidi.
The killings prompted significant public outcry, despite more than 200 journalists and media workers having already been killed since the conflict began in October 2023. Al-Sharif—Israel's stated focus of the intentional strike—was a very popular figure in Arabic media. As one of the most recognizable faces reporting from war-torn Gaza for the past two years, al-Sharif was a primary journalist driving the mounting criticism against Israel due to the dire conditions the country has imposed on Palestinians.
United Nations human rights experts condemned Israel's deliberate killing of the four Al Jazeera journalists, calling it "an attempt to silence reporting on the ongoing genocide and starvation campaign." The strike also drew international condemnation from the European Union, several countries and media and rights groups. Demonstrations around the world honored the journalists and showed solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel's killing of the journalists comes at a pivotal moment in the Gaza war, which began after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took 250 hostages, around 50 of whom remain captive. Israel's assault has killed over 62,000 people in 22 months, while civilians face starvation as aid is restricted. Israel faces growing international criticism amid accusations of genocide and its plans to conquer Gaza City.
In this context, as Israel has barred foreign media from entering Gaza independently, on-the-ground coverage of the war has largely relied on local journalists who live under the same conditions as the population and whom rights groups accuse Israel of deliberately targeting.
A joint statement to the E.U. released one year ago and signed by 60 rights groups and institutions, including Human Rights Watch, says Israel has deliberately targeted journalists, violating its human rights and international humanitarian law obligations. They describe the killings as part of "widespread and systematic abuses by Israeli authorities in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and elsewhere," citing findings from Israeli, Palestinian and international NGOs, U.N. experts, the International Court of Justice (IJC) and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Israel's killing of the journalists comes at a pivotal moment in the Gaza war, which began after Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took 250 hostage, around 50 of whom remain captive. Israel's assault has killed over 62,000 people in 22 months, while civilians face starvation as aid is restricted. Israel faces growing international criticism amid accusations of genocide and its plans to conquer Gaza City.
- Dario Sabaghi
Such accusations are not new. Before the 2023 Gaza war, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Observatory of Killed Journalists, for example, recorded at least 24 journalists and media workers killed in Israel and the Palestinian territories from 2002 until 2022—most of them Palestinians. Similarly, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports 25 and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reports 36 across that time range, reflecting differences in methodology, definitions and data coverage.
"The scale of journalist killings is unprecedented because over 200 journalists have been killed by the Israeli army in just 22 months of the military campaign in Gaza," Martin Roux, head of crisis desk at RSF, told Democracy in Exile. "But these attacks on the press didn't begin with this campaign," he continued.
"They've been happening in Gaza and the West Bank for years."
One of the most notable journalist killings in the Occupied Palestinian Territories before the 2023 Gaza war was that of Palestinian-American Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot while wearing a press vest and covering an Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank on May 11, 2022. Israel initially denied responsibility, later claiming she was likely killed accidentally by Israeli fire, without opening a criminal investigation.
However, independent investigations—including those by the United Nations—challenged this account, and Forensic Architecture concluded Israel deliberately targeted the journalist. Israel has since admitted that the killing was an accident, with little justice for Abu Akleh since.
Media observers like the CPJ have documented a pattern of Israeli forces targeting Palestinian journalists to suppress reporting, often labeling them as affiliated with militant groups—accusations that are frequently unsubstantiated.
Al Jazeera correspondents, for example, have repeatedly been accused by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of links to Hamas, claims the network and international organizations have rejected as baseless. The IDF alleged that al-Sharif led a Hamas cell, but Al Jazeera, CPJ and the U.N. noted the lack of evidence.
Earlier cases include Ismail al-Ghoul, killed in a 2024 airstrike, and Hossam Shabat, accused of being a Hamas sniper—both claims denied by Al Jazeera and criticized by RSF for insufficient evidence.
"This is a clear pattern, intended only to justify the crimes committed by the Israeli army against Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip, and it has been used multiple times before," Roux said.
Some NGOs, however, are working to hold Israel accountable. RSF, for example, has filed at least four complaints with the ICC since the start of the war in Gaza, accusing Israel of war crimes against journalists in Gaza. Similarly, DAWN has released numerous statements calling for justice and the application of U.S. and international legal restrictions against Israeli military units that have killed journalists.
- Dario Sabaghi
Despite international criticism, Israel continues to perpetrate the killing of journalists with impunity and without accountability, according to Sherif Mansour, human rights advocate and former CPJ MENA coordinator. In an interview with Democracy in Exile, he explained that even before the Oct. 7 attacks, he documented journalist killings in the Palestinian territories, warning that this deadly pattern was creating impunity and empowering the IDF to act without accountability.
"We warned that, to end this impunity, censorship must end in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, and that the U.S. government and other Western democracies should press the Israeli army to adhere to a code of conduct," he said.
Some NGOs, however, are working to hold Israel accountable. RSF, for example, has filed at least four complaints with the ICC since the start of the war in Gaza, accusing Israel of war crimes against journalists in Gaza. Similarly, DAWN has released numerous statements calling for justice and the application of U.S. and international legal restrictions against Israeli military units that have killed journalists.
However, Mansour noted, since Oct. 7, "Impunity has effectively consolidated, especially with complicity worldwide—mainly from Western democracies, including policymakers and the media."
While Israel is killing journalists in Gaza, detentions have risen in the West Bank. According to the CPJ, Israel has arrested 90 journalists across the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem since the war began, with 55 later released—including five who were detained by the Palestinian Authority.
Roux explained that the increase in arrests aims to "silence those reporting from the ground and taking risks for the mission of informing the wider public."
This pattern highlights how Israel's repeated targeting of journalists in the OPT reflects a systematic policy that violates international humanitarian law, including protections under the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute, according to the International Commission of Jurists.
Airstrikes, arbitrary detentions and smear campaigns have drawn a limited Western response, although Mansour says media outlets and policymakers are increasingly speaking out after witnessing daily journalist killings and seeing Israel's false narratives repeatedly challenged, noting that Israel has failed to provide evidence or justification for its actions over the last two years.
"I think the tide has started to change. I see that happening this time with the killing of six journalists," he said. "The response is much louder because the journalists in Gaza have paid unimaginable sacrifices and continue the work, passing it to a new generation."
"The Israelis could not fool the world, and the world could no longer turn its eyes away."
