Israel kills nearly half of journalists worldwide: Report

Reporters Without Borders reported on Tuesday that Israeli forces were responsible for almost half of all journalist deaths worldwide this year, with 29 Palestinian reporters killed in Gaza alone.

The Paris-based media freedom group recorded 67 journalist fatalities globally from December 2024 to November 2025, marking a slight rise from 66 in 2024. RSF said Israel accounted for 43 percent of the total, describing its military as “the worst enemy of journalists.”

The deadliest single attack occurred on 25 August, when a so-called “double-tap” strike hit a hospital in southern Gaza, killing five journalists, including contributors to Reuters and the Associated Press.

Since the October 2023 war in Gaza, following the Hamas attack on Israel, nearly 220 journalists have been killed, making Israel the leading global killer of media workers for three consecutive years, RSF data shows.

The Gaza Media Office says 257 journalists have been killed since October 2023. Mahmoud Wadi was the latest to be killed on 2 December in an Israeli air strike on Khan Younis.

Access to Gaza remains heavily restricted, with foreign journalists allowed only on controlled tours organised by the Israeli army despite calls for unrestricted press coverage.