A dozen Palestinian journalists reporting from Gaza and being targeted by online Israeli smear campaigns are “in immediate danger”, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has warned.
The media watchdog described Israel’s targeted killings of reporters as a war crime and a “deliberate campaign to eliminate witnesses and suppress the truth”.
Israel celebrated its 10 August assassination of Anas al-Sharif, a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent of the Al Jazeera network. He was killed in an airstrike on a hospital in Gaza City, which also killed four other Al Jazeera reporters, a freelance journalist and a passer-by.
The military had accused Mr Sharif, a father of two, of being a Hamas operative, a claim he vehemently denied, and which the UN special rapporteur on press freedom described as dangerous “unfounded accusations”.
The CPJ said the smear campaign was designed to “manufacture consent to kill Sharif” and is part of a pattern of falsely accusing journalists to justify deadly strikes on members of the press.
The warning comes as media outlets across the world black out their front pages and online sites to protest at the targeting of journalists trying to do their jobs.
In Gaza, journalists are terrified to work but continuing to report anyway.
One freelance journalist, whom The Independent has chosen not to name for their safety, says: “There are no measures we can take; danger pursues everyone wherever we are. Protective measures are insufficient.
“It is a fight against the truth and a fight to convey reality to this world.”
Now, the CPJ and Al Jazeera are deeply concerned about other Palestinian journalists inside Gaza who are facing similar unfounded accusations and are at imminent risk of injury or death.
Al Jazeera says several of its staffers and freelance reporters have either been named as targets in Israeli military statements or have faced threats on Israeli social media.
“By labelling journalists and media workers as Hamas operatives, it aimed to legitimise their murder. This is not only dangerous, it is a war crime unleashed through information warfare,” says Sara Qudah, CPJ’s Middle East and north Africa regional director.
“This pattern has emerged time and again to justify deadly strikes on members of the press. These accusations often coincide with journalists’ critical reporting on Israeli military actions, including the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“If Israel can kill its most visible reporters without consequence, it signals that no journalist or their family is safe. This sustained targeting of the press is a grave threat to press freedom. The world must act to stop this massacre.”
