The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released a devastating report on Wednesday revealing that 2025 became the most lethal year for media professionals since the organization began documenting casualties over thirty years ago. With a record 129 journalists killed worldwide, Israel was responsible for approximately 86 deaths—representing nearly two-thirds of the global total.
According to the press freedom watchdog, more than 60% of those killed by Israeli forces were Palestinian reporters operating in Gaza, where numerous human rights organizations and UN experts have acknowledged an ongoing genocide. The report highlighted that Israel’s unprecedented targeting of journalists resulted in back-to-back record years for press fatalities.
The deadliest single incident occurred on August 25, when Israeli airstrikes conducted a ‘double-tap’ attack on Nasser hospital in southern Gaza, killing at least 20 people including five media staff—two of whom were journalists with Middle East Eye. This controversial tactic, which involves striking the same location twice after first responders and journalists have gathered at the scene, has been widely condemned by human rights experts and foreign governments.
The CPJ report further noted a global increase in drone strikes against journalists, with Israel employing this method most frequently in 2025. Of the 39 documented drone-related journalist deaths worldwide, 28 were attributed to the Israeli military in Gaza.
Israeli authorities routinely denied targeting journalists, claiming instead that they were militants posing as media personnel. Rights groups have dismissed these assertions as ‘smear campaigns,’ noting that Israel has provided no credible evidence to support these allegations.
CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg emphasized the critical importance of protecting journalists, stating: ‘Journalists are being killed in record numbers at a time when access to information is more important than ever. Attacks on the media are a leading indicator of attacks on other freedoms, and much more needs to be done to prevent these killings and punish the perpetrators.’
Israel has maintained a ban on international media entering Gaza independently since the conflict began in October 2023, a restriction that remained in place even after the ceasefire agreement took effect last October. Consequently, nearly all on-the-ground reporting during the genocide has been conducted by Palestinian journalists working under extreme conditions—including displacement, limited access to humanitarian aid, and intimidation of family members due to their journalistic work.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate reported that the Israeli military has killed more than 700 family members of journalists since October 2023, noting that ‘the family has been transformed into a tool of pressure and collective punishment, violating the core principles of international humanitarian law.’
Other countries with significant journalist fatalities included Sudan (9 deaths), Mexico (6), Russia (4), and the Philippines (3), with these five nations collectively responsible for 84% of all journalist killings in 2025.