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From Risk to Target: The New Reality for Journalists in War Zones

April 9, 2026, Joshua Scheer, https://scheerpost.com/2026/04/09/from-risk-to-target-the-new-reality-for-journalists-in-war-zones/

As Journalists Are Killed, the World Looks Away

We reported on one of these deaths yesterday. Today, there are more.

The killing of journalists—already at record levels—continues at a pace that is both staggering and deliberate. What was once framed as the “risk” of war has become something far more disturbing: a pattern in which reporters are not just caught in violence, but increasingly subject to it.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least three more journalists were killed by Israeli forces in a single day across Gaza and Lebanon—with at least one case identified as a targeted attack.

They were not abstractions. They had names:

• Mohammed Samir Washah, correspondent for Al Jazeera Mubasher
• Ghada Dayekh, presenter with Sawt Al-Farah
• Suzan Khalil, reporter and presenter on Al-Manar TV and Al-Nour Radio

“Journalists are being killed at a pace and scale that should shock the conscience of the world,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. “These are not isolated tragedies; they reflect a systematic failure to uphold the most basic protections owed to civilian journalists under international law.”

The killings came amid a renewed wave of Israeli bombardment across Lebanon—more than 100 strikes launched within minutes, even as ceasefire announcements involving Iran, Israel, and the United States were still fresh.

This is the context in which journalism now exists.

Not as a profession protected under international law—but as a target operating within it.

 Israel’s killing of journalists in Gaza and Lebanon is not incidental. It is part of a broader assault on press freedom—one unfolding in real time, with little sign of restraint and even less accountability.

And as the numbers rise, so does the question:
How many more must die before the world treats this as more than collateral damage?

The most striking—and politically explosive—finding in the Committee to Protect Journalists report is this: Israel was responsible for roughly two-thirds of all journalist killings worldwide in 2025.

From Risk to Targeting

War has always been dangerous for reporters. But what distinguishes Israel’s conduct, according to CPJ’s findings, is the shift from incidental risk to alleged deliberate targeting.

• CPJ documented 47 cases of journalists killed specifically because of their work in 2025.
• Israel accounted for 81% of those targeted killings.

These are not cases where journalists were simply caught in crossfire. They are cases where evidence suggests reporters were identified, tracked, and struck—sometimes by precision tools like drones.

In Gaza, where foreign journalists are largely barred, local Palestinian reporters have become the world’s only witnesses. That visibility has made them indispensable—and, increasingly, vulnerable.

Silencing the Witnesses

The report highlights a disturbing pattern: journalists who documented alleged war crimes—such as attacks on hospitals or starvation—were among those targeted.

This raises a deeper question:
Is the killing of journalists functioning not just as violence, but as information control?

In modern war, narrative is power. Eliminating those who document reality doesn’t just remove individuals—it erases evidence in real time.

The Role of “Deadly Smears”

Another key mechanism identified by CPJ is the use of unsubstantiated accusations against journalists after—or even before—they are killed.

Israel has repeatedly labeled slain reporters as militants, often without presenting verifiable evidence.

This serves two purposes:

1. Justification after the fact
2. Preemptive delegitimization of journalists as civilian targets

In effect, it blurs the line between journalist and combatant—undermining one of the most fundamental protections in international law.

Total Impunity

Perhaps the most damning finding is not just the scale of killings, but the absence of consequences.

• No one has been held accountable for any targeted killing of a journalist by Israel since October 2023.

This is not just a failure of justice—it is a signal.

A signal that such actions can continue without legal or political cost.

A Precedent Beyond Gaza

What happens in Gaza does not stay in Gaza.

When a state can kill journalists at this scale without accountability, it sets a precedent that other governments—authoritarian or democratic—can follow. The erosion of press protections in one conflict zone becomes a global permission structure.

The Deadliest Year for the Press: How War—and Impunity—Are Killing Journalism

In a world already fractured by war, the truth itself is increasingly under fire.

A new report from the Committee to Protect Journalists reveals a staggering reality: 2025 was the deadliest year ever recorded for journalists, with at least 129 media workers killed globally—a historic high that underscores a deepening crisis for press freedom worldwide.

But beyond the numbers lies a far more disturbing pattern.

According to CPJ, two-thirds of all journalist killings in 2025 were carried out by Israeli forces, marking not only a statistical anomaly but a structural shift in how modern warfare treats the press. In Gaza especially, Palestinian journalists bore the brunt of this violence, with the majority killed while documenting the realities of a war zone increasingly sealed off from the outside world.

This is not collateral damage—it is, in many documented cases, targeting.

CPJ identified 47 journalists deliberately killed for their work in 2025, the highest number of targeted killings in over a decade. Israel alone accounted for 81% of those cases, raising profound legal and moral questions about violations of international humanitarian law, which explicitly classifies journalists as civilians.

Even more alarming is what follows these killings: nothing.

The report finds that no one has been held accountable for any targeted killing of a journalist in 2025. This culture of impunity—long entrenched but now accelerating—has turned journalism into one of the most dangerous professions on Earth, particularly in conflict zones where truth itself is treated as a threat.

And the methods of killing are evolving.

Drone warfare, once a distant technological abstraction, has become a frontline tool in silencing reporters. CPJ documented a surge from just two journalist deaths by drone in 2023 to 39 in 2025, with the majority linked to Israeli military operations in Gaza. These are not indiscriminate weapons—they are capable of precision targeting, raising further concerns about intentionality.

Yet the crisis extends far beyond any single battlefield.

From Mexico to India, Sudan to the Philippines, journalists continue to be murdered for exposing corruption, documenting war crimes, or simply telling inconvenient truths. In many of these cases, weak legal systems and political complicity ensure that perpetrators are never brought to justice.

The result is a global chilling effect.

When journalists are killed without consequence, entire societies are pushed into darkness. Information disappears. Accountability collapses. Power operates unchecked.

As CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg warns, attacks on journalists are not isolated incidents—they are early warning signs of broader democratic decline.

And that decline is no longer creeping—it is accelerating.

What this report ultimately reveals is not just a record-breaking death toll, but a fundamental shift: the normalization of violence against the press as a tool of war and governance.

In such a world, the question is no longer whether journalism is under attack.

It is whether the truth can survive it.

Here is a list from The Guardian from last September. These are not just names—they are the people who risked everything to report what was happening on the ground in this conflict. We should remember them, hold onto them, speak them, because even now more are being killed—and more will be killed—as the genocidal empire pushes forward in Iran.

To remember them is to refuse their erasure. To say their names is to resist the silence that follows.

Ahmed Abu Aziz,Mohammed Salama,Moaz Abu Taha,Hussam al-Masri,Mariam Abu Dagga,Anas al-Sharif,Mohammed Noufal,Ibrahim Zaher,Mohammed Qreiqeh,Moamen Aliwa,Mohammad al-Khaldi,Ismail Abu Hatab,Moamen Abu AlOuf,Ahmad Qalaja,Ismail Baddah,Suleiman Hajjaj,Hassan Abu Warda,Hassan Samour,Ahmed al-Helou,Yahya Sobeih,Noureddine Abdo,Fatma Hassouna,Hilmi al-Faqaawi,Ahmed Mansour,Mohammed Mansour,Hossam Shabat,Mahmoud Islim al-Basos,Ahmed al-Shayyah,Ahmed Abu al-Rous,Mohammed al-Talmas,Saed Abu Nabhan,Omar al-Dirawi,Areej Shaheen,Hassan al-Qishawi,Ayman al-Gedi,Faisal Abu al-Qumsan,Mohammed al-Ladaa,Fadi Hassouna,Ibrahim Sheikh Ali,Mohammed al-Sharafi,Ahmed al-Louh,Mohammed al-Qrinawi,Mohammed Balousha,Iman al-Shanti,Maisara Ahmed Salah,Mamdouh Qanita,Ahmed Abu Sharia,Mahdi al-Mamluk,Ahmed Abu Skheil,Zahraa Abu Skheil,Bilal Rajab,Amr Abu Odeh,Saed Radwan,Nadia Emad al-Sayed,Haneen Baroud,Tareq AlSalhi,Mohammed al-Tanani,AlHassan Hamad,Abdul Rahman Bahr,Nour Abu Oweimer,Wafa al-Udaini,Mohammed Abed Rabbo,Hussam al-Dabbaka,Hamza Murtaja,Ibrahim Muhareb,Tamim Abu Muammar,Mohammed Issa Abu Saada,Rami al-Refee,Ismail al-Ghoul,Mohammed Abu Daqqa,Mohammed Abu Jasser,Mohamed Meshmesh,Mohamed Manhal Abu Armana,Amjad Juhjouh,Wafaa Abu Dabaan,Rizq Abu Shakian,Saadi Madoukh,Mohammed al-Sakani,Mohammed Abu Sharia,Rasheed Albably,Ola Al Dahdouh,Mahmoud Juhjouh,Bahaaddine Yassine,Mustafa Ayyad,Salem Abu Toyour,Ibrahim al-Gharbawi,Ayman al-Gharbawi,Mohammed Bassam al-Jamal,Mustafa Bahr,Mohamed Adel Abu Skheil,Saher Akram Rayan,Mohamed el Sayed Abu Skheil,Tarek El Sayed Abu Skheil,Mohamed el-Reefi,Abdul Rahman Saima,Muhammad Salama,Mohamed Yaghi,Zayd Abu Zayed,Ayman al-Rafati,Angam Ahmad Edwan,Alaa al-Hams,Yasser Mamdouh el-Fady,Nafez Abdel Jawad,Rizq al-Gharabli,Mohammed Atallah,Tariq al-Maidna,Iyad el-Ruwagh,Yazan al-Zuweidi,Mohamed Jamal Sobhi al-Thalathini,Ahmed Bdeir,Shareef Okasha,Heba al-Abadla,Abdallah Iyad Breis,Mustafa Thuraya,Hamza al-Dahdouh,Akram ElShafie,Jabr Abu Hadrous,Ahmed Khaireddine,Ahmad Jamal al-Madhoun,Mohamad al-Iff,Mohamed Azzaytouniyah,Mohamed Naser Abu Huwaidi,Mohamed Khalifeh,Adel Zorob,Abdallah Alwan,Haneen Kashtan,Assem Kamal Moussa,Samer Abu Daqqa,Ola Atallah,Duaa Jabbour,Shaima el-Gazzar,Hamada al-Yaziji,Hassan Farajallah,Abdullah Darwish,Montaser al-Sawaf,Adham Hassouna,Marwan al-Sawaf,Mostafa Bakeer,Mohamed Mouin Ayyash,Mohamed Nabil al-Zaq,Assem al-Barsh,Jamal Mohamed Haniyeh,Ayat Khadoura,Bilal Jadallah,Mossab Ashour,Sari Mansour,Mostafa al-Sawaf,Hassouneh Salim,Abdel Rahman al-Tanani,Amal Zohud,Abdelhalim Awad,Amro Salah Abu Hayah,Yacoup al-Borsh,Moussa al-Borsh,Ahmed al-Qara,Yahya Abu Manih,Mohamed Abu Hassira,Mohamad al-Bayyari,Mohammed Abu Hatab,Majd Fadl Arandas,Iyad Matar,Imad al-Wahidi,Majed Kashko,Nazmi al-Nadim,Yasser Abu Namous,Duaa Sharaf,Jamal al-Faqaawi,Saed al-Halabi,Ahmed Abu Mhadi,Tasneem Bkheet,Ibrahim Marzouq,Mohammed Imad Labad,Roshdi Sarraj,Mohammed Ali,Khalil Abu Aathra,Sameeh al-Nady,Issam Bhar,Mohammad Balousha,Abdulhadi Habib,Yousef Maher Dawas,Salam Mema,Husam Mubarak,Ahmed Shehab,Hisham Alnwajha,Mohammed Sobh,Saeed al-Taweel,Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi,Mohammad Jarghoun,Mohammed al-Salhi

April 13, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | media, secrets,lies and civil liberties