ARTICLE 19 strongly condemns the Israeli forces’ killing of two journalists in Gaza and Israel’s continuous pattern of affiliating Palestinian journalists with militant groups. We call on the International Criminal Court to conduct a thorough investigation into Israel’s killings of journalists. The international community must take decisive action to end Israel’s prolonged war and the suffering of the Palestinian people.
On Monday, 24 March, two separate Israeli attacks in Gaza killed two media workers. Hossam Shabat, a journalist with Al Jazeera’s live Arabic channel Mubasher, was killed in northern Gaza. According to Al Jazeera, witnesses reported that his car was targeted in the eastern area of Beit Lahiya. In a joint statement, the Israeli military and the security services Shin Bet claimed they had ‘eliminated… a sniper terrorist from the Beit Hanun Battalion of the Hamas terrorist organisation, who was also employed as a journalist by Al Jazeera’. The statement further alleged that ‘internal Hamas documents’ indicated Shabat had participated in military training conducted by the Beit Hanun Battalion in 2019. On the same day, Mohammad Mansour, a journalist with Palestine Today, was killed in his home in Khan Younis following an Israeli army strike.
ARTICLE 19 condemns Israel’s repeated pattern of affiliating Palestinian journalists with militant groups, in an apparent attempt to justify their targeting based on unsubstantiated claims. Under international humanitarian law, journalists are considered civilians and must be protected. Targeting them is a war crime.
Since early 2025, Israeli authorities have also escalated attacks on Palestinian journalists and restrictions on press freedom in the West Bank. On 23 March, Israeli army tanks reportedly opened fire on an Al Jazeera news crew covering a military incursion into the Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood, west of Rafah. On 22 March, Israeli police reportedly arrested Saif Qawasmi, a correspondent for Al-Asima agency, in Jerusalem and banned him from Al-Aqsa Mosque for one week. On 19 March, Israeli police reportedly summoned Reuters correspondent Latifa Abdel Latif for interrogation in East Jerusalem regarding her journalistic work and banned her from Al-Aqsa Mosque for a week.
ARTICLE 19 is deeply concerned about the ongoing attacks on journalists in both Gaza and the West Bank, as well as the resumption bombing, bringing an end to the ceasefire agreement. Journalists have played a crucial role in informing both local and international audiences about the realities on the ground and in documenting evidence of human rights violations during the war. As the assault on Gaza continues, their work remains vital. The few journalists who remain in Gaza — after enduring over a year of atrocities — continue to operate under extreme conditions.
ARTICLE 19 calls for an independent international investigation into the circumstances of the killings of all journalists in Gaza and for the International Criminal Court to investigate them as potential violations of the Rome Statute. ARTICLE 19 also urges the international community to step up its efforts to protect press freedom and bring an end to a war that has inflicted immense suffering on Palestinian civilians and journalists alike.