5 Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza in past few hours: Media office

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Israel has killed five Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip in the past few hours, the Gaza government media office said on Saturday.

In a statement, the media office said that the new fatalities brought to 158 the number of Palestinian journalists killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023.

The government media office and human rights organizations have reported multiple times that the Israeli army has been deliberately targeting Palestinian journalists to prevent the reporting of its “crimes” in the region.

According to data and statistics from the International Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based NGO, the war on Gaza has become “the bloodiest for journalists” since the committee began documenting journalist killings worldwide in 1992.

Last February, the International Center for Journalists, a Washington-based NGO, announced that the war on Gaza had seen the highest levels of violence against journalists in 30 years. The organization called on Israel to stop killing journalists.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has continued killing Palestinian in Gaza.

It has murdered 38,098 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since it began its war on Gaza in early October last year. Its attacks have left over 87,700 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.