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Five journalists were killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza on Thursday, according to the news outlet that employed them and local officials. It's the latest report of slain journalists in the besieged enclave as life-threatening conditions in the area continue to hamper wartime reporting efforts.
The media office of Gaza's Hamas-run government said the journalists worked at Al Quds Today TV, a local news channel, The New York Times reported. Al Quds Today is affiliated with the Islamic Jihad, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), though it’s unclear whether the journalists subscribed to such ideology and were members of the jihadist group.
Al Quds Today named the five men and attached photos of them in a post on social media that show some of them wearing “Press” vests. Quds News Network also posted a photo on X of what it reported was the vehicle targeted in the airstrike. The white vehicle pictured was marked with the word “PRESS” in red.
The Israeli military disputed claims that the men were journalists, saying it “conducted a precise strike on a vehicle with an Islamic Jihad terrorist cell inside in the area of Nuseirat.” According to The Washington Post, the Israeli Defense Forces did not publicly provide evidence for its allegations and cited intelligence from “multiple sources” that allegedly indicated the men belonged to the Islamic Jihad group.
IDF spokesperson Nadav Shoshani wrote on X that claims that the military targeted journalists are “fake.”
Israel has been accused of taking a drastically more lenient approach to its rules of armed conflict as it wages a fierce war to eliminate Hamas after the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks. Human rights organizations have accused Israel of repeatedly violating the rules of war and international humanitarian law in Gaza, resulting in a soaring civilian death toll. The IDF has said that it works to minimize civilian harm and that it "is committed to adhering to international legal obligations and operating under the laws of armed conflict."
For the past 14 months, journalists in Gaza, alongside approximately 2 million other civilians who are trapped in the area, have been under relentless attacks from Israel while living under what human rights groups have called inhumane conditions.
Although media workers are protected by international humanitarian law, journalists in Gaza face especially high risks as they cover the war. Between Oct. 7, 2023, and Dec. 20, 2024, at least 141 members of the media — including 133 Palestinians, six Lebanese and two Israelis — have been killed, according to the CPJ, making it the deadliest period for journalists in more than 30 years. Several dozen journalists in Gaza have also been arrested and reported missing, and their family members threatened and killed, according to the organization.