Reporters Without Borders condemns Israel’s ‘eradication of journalism’ in Gaza

LONDON (AA) – Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned what it calls the “eradication of journalism and the right to information in Gaza by the Israeli army.”

“Palestinian journalists killed, wounded, and prevented from working without any possibility of safe refuge,” the Paris-based RSF said in a statement.

It called on the international organizations to increase pressure on Israel to “immediately cease this carnage.”

“Journalists are being decimated as the days of this interminable war go by, through incessant Israeli strikes from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip,” the statement said.

The RSF added that journalists who have survived these four months are living “a daily hell,” as they suffer shortages of all kinds, particularly of equipment, as well as regular media blackouts.

Noting that they filed two complaints with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and made repeated appeals to countries and international organizations, the NGO said it is once again urging the UN Security Council to “immediately enforce Resolution 2222 (2015) on the protection of journalists.”

The group also touched on the situation in Rafah, the area that was previously described by Israel as a “security zone,” noting that the vast majority of journalists, who had to flee to the south of Gaza, have taken refuge in Rafah, where the crossing point with Egypt is still closed.

Citing the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), the statement said that some 50 local and international media outlets in Gaza have been “totally or partially” destroyed by the Israeli army since Oct. 7, “in addition to the appalling death toll.”

On Thursday, another Palestinian journalist was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, taking the tally to 124 since Oct. 7.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since an attack by Palestinian group Hamas in October, which Tel Aviv says killed 1,140 people.

At least 27,840 Palestinians have since been killed and 67,317 others injured in the Israeli onslaught, according to local health authorities.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli offensive, all of them food insecure, according to the UN. Hundreds of thousands of people are living without shelter.