Israel has been targeting journalists in the occupied Palestinian territory with more intensity since October 7, 2023, says Australian journalist and author Antony Lowenstein.
Pointing to studies that tracked the number of media workers killed in conflicts, he told Al Jazeera: “The number of journalists killed in Gaza is greater than that of all conflicts in the last 100 years combined.”
Lowenstein, author of the landmark book The Palestine Laboratory, which has been translated into several languages and was the basis of a recent two-part documentary series, cited a study by Brown University’s Cost of War project.
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He added that the figures pointed to a “deliberate targeting of journalists”.
Among Western countries, “there is far more interest if China, Russia and Iran target journalists but far less if Israel does”, Lowenstein said.
“The lack of international outrage speaks volumes about how suddenly the press have a hierarchy of who is important, and Palestinians are not top of that list.”
Israel’s war on Gaza ‘worst ever conflict for reporters’
An Israeli attack that killed two people, including a journalist, in Khan Younis comes days after the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University said Israel’s war on Gaza was the “deadliest” for media workers ever recorded.
The US-based think tank, in a report published on April 1, said Israeli forces had killed 232 journalists since October 7, 2023.
That averages 13 a week.
It means that more journalists have been killed in Gaza than in both world wars, the Vietnam War, the wars in Yugoslavia and the US war in Afghanistan combined.
Since the report’s publication, at least two more journalists have been killed.
They are Helmi al-Faqawi, who was killed yesterday, and Islam Maqdad, who was killed on Sunday along with her husband and their child.
BREAKING: More journalists have died in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023 than in both World Wars and other major wars, combined.
Our new report outlines the costs of war to journalists – and the journalism we all rely on. [THREAD, 1/8] https://t.co/oeeqPqw5i2 pic.twitter.com/gSXWYjtXSl
— The Costs of War Project (@CostsOfWar) April 1, 2025
Meanwhile, the Gaza Government Media Office said that the number of media personnel killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 2023 had risen to 210 after the killing of al-Faqawi.
Al-Faqawi, a Palestine Today reporter, was among at least two people killed when Israeli warplanes bombed a tent for journalists near a hospital in Khan Younis.
He was burned alive. Another man named Yousef al-Khazindar was also killed.
At least six journalists were wounded in the attack.
They were named as Hassan Eslaih, Ahmed al-Agha, Muhammad Fayek, Abdallah Al-Attar, Ihab al-Bardini and Mahmoud Awad.
The tent belonged to the TV station Palestine Today.
In a report published on April 1, the Watson Institute’s report said Israeli forces had killed 232 journalists since October 7, 2023.
This figure apparently included the West Bank and Lebanon as well as Gaza.
