The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said that the Israeli occupation committed the largest and most horrific massacre against the press in the world throughout history during a year of the war of extermination it is waging against our people.

The Syndicate stated in its report on the first anniversary of the Israeli war of extermination, issued by the Freedoms Committee, that “the occupation committed 1,639 crimes against journalists and media institutions, especially in the Gaza Strip, including the martyrdom of 167 journalists and media workers.”

The biggest massacre in history

According to the monitoring and follow-up of the Freedoms Committee in the Syndicate, the occupation has killed 167 journalists and workers in the Palestinian media sector since October 7, 2023, including 21 female journalists and one male journalist in the West Bank governorates, Ibrahim Mahameed from Nour Shams Camp in Tulkarm. These figures indicate that the occupation has killed 11% of Gaza’s journalists.

The union said, "The knights of truth from fellow journalists paid the price for the message of truth and conveying it to the world, and the Israeli occupation carried out the greatest massacre of assassinations against them to bury the truth and its witnesses."

The union pointed out that a number of colleagues were martyred and their bodies remained with their families under the rubble of their homes for months, as happened with colleagues Hiba Al-Abdallah (who is still under the rubble to this day), Salam Meema, and Ayat Khadura.

The Syndicate's report revealed 357 cases of injury among journalists during the year of the war of extermination, due to the occupation's missiles and direct bullets, in addition to toxic gas bombs and settler attacks.

The Syndicate explained that 101 injuries were a result of the occupation targeting journalists with its missiles and bullets, the latest of which was the serious injury of fellow journalist Ahmed Al-Zard, the injury of his mother, and the martyrdom of his brother and a number of his family members as a result of an Israeli bombardment that targeted their home in Khan Yunis.

The report added that a number of journalists sustained serious injuries that led to the amputation of their feet, such as colleague Sami Shehadeh, whose right foot was amputated as a result of being hit by an Israeli bombardment while covering the displacement movement in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, in addition to injuries among journalists in deadly locations, which indicates the desire to kill on the part of the Israeli army.

Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail Abu Omar's right leg was amputated during a bombing in the Mirage area north of Rafah, and his left leg was severely injured. The same was true for photojournalist Abdullah al-Hajj, who was injured while covering the news in al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City, which led to the amputation of one of his legs. Photographer Mohammed al-Za'anin was injured in his left eye after being targeted by a drone that dropped explosive bombs on him near Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis.

The union indicated that the remaining injuries were distributed between 21 direct injuries from gas and sound bombs, 26 attacks by settlers, and 121 suffocation injuries from inhaling toxic gas.

The Israeli occupation arrested 125 journalists

The Syndicate's data indicated that the occupation authorities have arrested 125 journalists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since October of last year, 61 of whom are still in occupation prisons.

The Syndicate said that 16 Palestinian female journalists were arrested by the occupation, 6 of whom are still under arrest. The occupation also deported journalist Siqal Qaddum (51 years old) from Hebron who works for Palestine TV to the Gaza Strip via the "Kerem Abu Salem" crossing.

The Syndicate noted that 33 journalists were subjected to what is called "administrative detention", and that the occupation courts exploited the so-called Israeli "emergency law" and accused some imprisoned journalists of incitement through the media and social media platforms, such as fellow journalist Rasha Harzallah at the Palestinian News and Information Agency "Wafa" and fellow journalist Ali Dar Ali, a correspondent for Palestine TV.

Since October 7, 2023, journalists Nidal Al-Wahidi (who works with Al-Najah TV and New Press platform) and Haitham Abdul Wahid (Ain Media Foundation) have been forcibly disappeared, and the occupation refuses to release any information about their fate or respond to all international and human rights efforts to find out their circumstances.

Total destruction of media institutions in Gaza and closures in the West Bank

The Israeli occupation destroyed 73 media institutions in the Gaza Strip, according to documentation by the Freedoms Committee in the Syndicate, including 21 local radio stations, 3 broadcast towers, 15 news agencies, 15 satellite channels, 6 local newspapers, and 13 media and press services offices.

The occupation also closed 15 institutions in the West Bank, most notably the Palestine TV office in Jerusalem, and the offices of Al-Mayadeen and Al-Jazeera channels, in addition to closing 12 press printing presses in various governorates of the West Bank.

514 martyrs from the families of journalists in Gaza

Journalists' families paid a heavy price as a result of their sons' profession, as figures from the Syndicate's Freedoms Committee indicate that 514 members of journalists' families were killed in Gaza as a result of missile attacks on journalists' homes and places of displacement.

The report added that the Israeli occupation targeted about 115 homes of Palestinian journalists’ families in the Gaza Strip with aircraft missiles and artillery shells. The families of a number of journalists were completely erased from the civil records of the population, such as Al-Quds Channel journalist Hussam Al-Dabaka, after his apartment was targeted and his wife, children and a number of other family members were killed in Al-Maghazi camp, Palestine TV correspondent Mohammed Abu Hatab and 11 of his family members, including his wife, children and brother, and journalist Salam Meema, her husband and three children Hadi, Ali and Sham, in the bombing of their home in Jabalia camp.

Bullets are the language the occupation uses to communicate with journalists.

The most widespread attack in the West Bank since the beginning of the war of extermination was the direct shooting at press crews, as 198 members of press crews were documented to have been exposed to these dangerous incidents, most of which occurred in the Jenin and Tulkarm governorates, which exposed them to the risk of death.

For example, the last quarter of 2023 saw 26 incidents recorded in this regard, while during the third quarter of this year the number of incidents rose to 106. Many colleagues were harmed by these attacks as well as their equipment (cameras and vehicles).

Colonial terrorism with governmental legitimacy

The report indicated that about 26 journalists were subjected to brutal attacks by settlers in the West Bank, and on many occasions this happened in the presence of the occupation police and army without their intervention to protect the journalists, and without any of them being held accountable by any party.

Examples of these incidents include: brandishing a weapon and threatening to kill, as happened with journalist Shuruq Issa after a settler brandished his weapon at her while she was covering events in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, and beating and smashing with the intent to kill, as happened with photojournalist Joseph Handal while he was passing through the “Container” military checkpoint east of Bethlehem, where he was assaulted and his vehicle was smashed with stones and sticks by a group of settlers, as well as being sprayed with poisonous pepper gas in his face, which led to him sustaining injuries and fractures.

In occupied Jerusalem, a large group of journalists were attacked by settlers, beaten and burned, such as what happened to journalist Saif Al-Qawasmi, who suffered burns to his hand as a result of settlers deliberately putting out cigarettes on his hands, as well as correspondent for Al-Hayat Al-Jadida newspaper, Diala Juwayhan, who was beaten and assaulted, her colleague, journalist Malak Arouq, correspondent for Al-Arabiya channel, Bara’a Abu Ramouz, and a large group of colleagues, both male and female.

Poison gas still makes journalists' eyes tear up and its bombs destroy their bodies

The report explained that 152 injuries among journalists were documented due to gas bombs, 140 of which were caused by inhaling toxic gas and 19 by the gas bomb hitting the journalists’ bodies, as happened with journalist Sidqi Rayyan, who was injured by a gas bomb in the head after the occupation targeted journalists in “Jabal Sabih”, on which the “Avitar” colonial outpost was forcibly established in the town of Beita, south of Nablus, as well as Reuters photographer Raneen Sawafta, who was injured by a gas bomb in the face and was transferred to the hospital in Jenin, after the occupation forces fired gas bombs at journalists.

A flood of crimes preventing crews from working

The Freedoms Committee report stated that there were 396 cases of detention of individuals and press crews, preventing them from working, and pursuing them with verbal threats and threats of shooting and arrest in the event of non-compliance, with a clear escalation in cases of prevention, even with pursuit and attempts to run them over with heavy bulldozers and military vehicles.

For example, on the road near the city of Tubas, an Israeli military jeep hit the vehicle of journalists Majdi and Ali Ishtia, while they were covering the news in the Tayasir area east of Tubas. The military vehicles also tried to run over Al Jazeera correspondent Guevara al-Badri, photographer Aref Tuffaha, Palestine TV correspondent Amir Shaheen, and a group of journalists.

A number of journalists were also subjected to an attempted run-over by an Israeli military bulldozer while covering the demolition of streets in the city of Jenin. Among them were Al-Arabiya TV correspondent Amid Shehadeh, Al-Ghad TV correspondent Diaa Hoshiya, Roya TV correspondent Hafez Abu Sabra, and Al-Quds newspaper correspondent Ali Samoudi.

Other forms of crime and assault

The Israeli occupation uses many forms of persecution, harassment and targeting of journalists, such as travel bans, seizure of personal and professional belongings, summons for investigation, unfair military courts, financial fines, threats, incitement and house arrest.

The submission of the Supreme Court, the highest judicial authority in the occupation system, reflects its complicity with the Israeli occupation government and army by rejecting the request of the Foreign Journalists Association to allow them to enter to work and cover the Gaza Strip.

The report concluded that the most prominent indications of the series of brutal crimes committed against Palestinian journalists and the ease with which they were killed are the result of a decision from the highest levels of political decision-making in the Israeli occupation government, and cannot be a field effort but rather the work of a “political institution” that the “security establishment” translates into this high level of killing.

The Syndicate stated in its report that the so-called Israeli Supreme Court’s rejection of the Foreign Journalists Association’s request to enter and cover the Gaza Strip is an indication of the occupation regime’s persistence in maintaining its monopoly over Palestinian journalists and casting doubt on the facts they transmit to the world.

She said that making the families of Palestinian journalists pay a heavy price, represented by losing their lives because of their sons’ profession, is something that history has never witnessed in terms of ugliness and moral decadence that is contrary to humanity.

She added that the increase in the number of bloody injuries caused by missile shrapnel and bullets to a level much higher than the injuries resulting from beating with clubs and kicks is also an indication of targeting with the intent to kill. In all the reports of the unions and human rights institutions in the world that cover wars and conflicts, you cannot find any convergence to these facts and figures.

She pointed out that the occupation aircraft's bombing of press offices with missiles, including those belonging to foreign media institutions, is a message of defiance from the occupation government to the world that it does not care about the series of crimes and genocide.

She pointed out that the dangerous increase in the level of targeting with live bullets to prevent crews from working in the West Bank is confirmation of the persistence of brutality and violations in order to create a state of terror and intimidation of journalists with the aim of concealing the truth.

She stressed that the continued detention of journalists without trial or visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross and families is contrary to all international agreements and conventions.

She pointed out the "continuous gang-style robbery by the occupation army of the property of journalists and press institutions without a court or any right, and the seizure of equipment and personal belongings without any documentation or acknowledgment of these thefts, which are called 'confiscations'."

The Syndicate indicated that the extent of targeting journalists according to the geographical and temporal distributions has implications for the Israeli targeting of Palestinian society. In the Gaza Strip, the occupation is working on genocide, believing that the extermination of journalists there will hide the truth of its brutal acts. The clear increase in targeting journalists in the northern West Bank governorates indicates the extent of targeting citizens in those governorates. Likewise, the clear chaos of the occupation army in the city of Jerusalem towards journalists indicates and confirms the targeting of components of the holy city. As for the temporal dimension, the higher the rate of targeting journalists in a certain area, this is a prelude to comprehensive targeting of that area.

She stressed that the noticeable increase in attacks and terrorism by settlers against journalists confirms that they have obtained legitimacy from the Israeli occupation government to commit massacres and dangerous acts against journalists and citizens.

The Journalists Syndicate recommended that clear decisions be issued by the United Nations and the UN Security Council demanding that the Israeli occupation government stop killing journalists.

She stressed that the International Court of Justice has a professional, moral and humanitarian responsibility, which requires it to take action to take a series of decisions to protect Palestinian journalists. The reputation and professionalism of the International Criminal Court is also at stake, as it has not yet considered the series of cases brought before it by the Syndicate regarding previous Israeli crimes, such as the assassination of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and a number of journalists in the Gaza Strip who were martyred in previous years.

The union called on the International Federation of Journalists to continue its support and provide a union and human rights network in order to put more pressure on the International Criminal Court to try the leaders of the occupation, politicians, military personnel and colonists, to ensure that they do not escape punishment for their crimes.

She stressed the need for the Arab Journalists Union to lead a movement that includes Arab parliaments, the Arab League, unions and human rights institutions to support Palestinian journalists in practicing their profession and exposing the crimes of the occupation.

It recommended activating the Palestinian National Mechanism to End Impunity to follow up on providing protection for journalists at the Palestinian level in cooperation with the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, departments of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Palestinian Bar Association, the General Union of Palestinian Writers and Authors, the Independent Commission for Human Rights, the Al-Haq Foundation, and all relevant sectors.

She stressed that the Palestinian journalist, especially in the Gaza Strip, is in dire need of all means of legal and moral support, as well as means of a decent living in light of the lack of sources of income amidst this siege and the loss of many of their equipment, offices and crews.

She pointed out that she will continue, with all institutions working in the field, to monitor, document and publish the occupation's crimes and attacks on all journalists.

She stressed that local and Arab media outlets are required to provide press coverage of the occupation’s crimes against journalists, and to show their suffering and that of their families with clear humanity rather than being mere numbers. She also called on all staff working in the media sector to maintain their commitment to professional safety standards to preserve their lives, as well as to adhere to all ethical standards for the quality of sound news reporting.