FCC Statement on Journalists and the One-Year Anniversary of the Israel-Hamas War

As the world marks the one-year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong remembers the scores of journalists killed or injured in the ongoing conflict. The FCC calls on all parties to protect the journalists who are covering the war with great courage and under extremely difficult conditions.

Of the more than 42,000 people killed since the war began, at least 128 of them were journalists and media workers, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (“CPJ”), making this the deadliest conflict for journalists since the group began gathering data in 1992. They include 123 Palestinians and three Lebanese, as well as two Israelis who were killed when the war began with Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel.

Though Israel denies targeting media workers, CPJ has concluded that at least five of the Palestinian and Lebanese journalists who were killed were directly targeted by Israeli forces in violation of international law.

The killings, along with censorship, arrests, internet disruptions, the blocking of independent media outlets from entering the Gaza Strip, the destruction of newsrooms and other media infrastructure, and the displacement of Gaza journalists and media workers, have severely hampered coverage of a war that threatens to spread across the region.

The Club expresses its deepest condolences to the colleagues and loved ones of the journalists and other innocent victims who have been killed, as well as the journalists whose families have been killed in the conflict they are covering.

The Club further calls on all parties to ensure the safety of journalists on the ground in Israel and Gaza. Journalists are civilians who should not be targeted, and their ability to freely and safely do their jobs is vital for understanding the conflict and working toward its end.