Syed Khalique Ahmed
NEW DELHI—Is the killing of journalists in the Gaza Strip collateral damage or targeted manslaughter because journalists deployed in Palestinian territories are giving ground information about the Israeli Defence Forces’ (IDF) violation of international humanitarian laws, unlike the Western media which is giving one-sided reports based on information provided by Israeli army amounting to violation of all journalistic protocols.
Veteran journalist and former president of the Press Club of India Umakant Lakhera opines that “the Western media, and unfortunately, Indian media too, are indulging in suppression of information from war zones to fulfill Israel’s hidden agenda to carry out genocide of Palestinian people and get the Gaza Strip cleared of its citizens.”
“Journalists who are reporting the plight of Palestinians because of uninterrupted bombardment of civilian areas in the Gaza Strip since October 7 are being targeted by the Israeli Army. This is the targeted killing of journalists. This amounts to a war crime. In a war frenzy, Israel is killing messengers. The Israeli army is not observing international law. Journalists are being killed on the line of duty thinking they are Israel’s enemy,” Mr Lakhera, with experience of more than four decades of reporting, commented while talking to this scribe.
Stating that “the Israeli Army is suppressing the voice of the media by targeting journalists who are simply doing their duty”, the former PCI president said that “given the targeted killing of journalists in the Gaza Strip during the ongoing Israel-Palestine war, the massacre of journalists would increase in the future.”.
He appealed to the United Nations to pass a resolution asking armed forces in war zones not to target journalists because they are not part of any party in the war and are just doing their duty of informing the people about the ground realities.
“What Israel is doing by targeting journalists is worse than war crimes,” he commented.
According to information compiled by international media organizations –the Committee for Protection of Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders, or Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) – the intensive Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip after Hamas launched its attack on Israel on October 7, has claimed the lives of at least 31 journalists. But the Health Ministry in Gaza said that 34 journalists, including three women journalists, were killed in Gaza since October 7. If the number of journalists killed in Israel(four) and Lebanon(one) is added, then the number goes to 39. Mr Lakhera says that such a large number of journalists have never lost their lives in any war in the past. Nobody knows how many more journalists would be killed in the Gaza Strip because the Israeli action is continuing unabated despite the world community appealing for an immediate ceasefire.
International media reports say that some of the journalists also lost many of their family members who lived in Gaza.
The majority of the journalists killed are reported to be Palestinian journalists working for international and local media houses, particularly television and digital media.
According to the latest report, there are 26 Palestinians, four Israeli and one Lebanese journalist killed in the ongoing warfare. Besides, eight journalists are reported to be injured and nine others missing or detained by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).
International news agencies – Reuters and Agence France Press (AFP) – had written to IDF to ensure security for journalists reporting from the Gaza Strip. But the IDF refused to give any guarantee, saying it is for the news agencies to take measures for the safety of their journalists.
The IDF’s curt reply to take any responsibility to provide safety to the lives of journalists covering the war has put journalists at high risk.
Reports allege that many Palestinian journalists have been threatened over the phone by Israeli authorities. Despite such a serious threat to their lives, journalists are providing minute-to-minute developments, regarding casualties and devastation caused by Israel’s uninterrupted bombardment since October 7 and now the ground attack on the Gaza Strip for the last three days.
In a report, CPJ has released the names of 31 journalists whose identities and their publication houses’ names it managed to gather through its network in Gaza and the Middle East.
CPJ has alleged that many journalists were threatened by IDF because of their coverage and their media offices were targeted.
RSF, in its investigation, said that Lebanese journalist Issam Abdallah who was working for Reuters, was not a collateral victim of the shooting by Israeli Defence Forces on October 13. According to the RSF investigation, the vehicle was marked “PRESS” when Issam was standing with many other journalists covering firing between Hezbollah forces and the Israeli army. The journalists were deliberately targeted in which Issam died. Seven other journalists – Christina Assi from AFP – and six journalists from Al Jazeera were injured. According to RSF, several Al Jazeera journalists sustained injuries in an attack in Dhayra village in Southern Lebanon. Al Jazeera journalists told the RSF investigating team that an Israeli helicopter flew over them, followed by a missile shot at them. They said that a similar modus operandi was adopted by IDF in the October 13 attack in which Issam Abdallah was killed.
Undeterred by such attacks, journalists from Gaza and Lebanon are regularly doing their duty of informing the world what is happening in the warfare between Israel armed with the most lethal weapons and enjoying the support of the US and European powers, and the Hamas fighters not even equipped with proper guns.
https://x.com/anadoluagency/status/1718711080577315058?s=20
Al Jazeera journalist Wael Al Dahdouh, who lost his wife, son, daughter, and grandson in an Israeli airstrike, returned to work within 24 hours. IDF, in a communication, later on, said that its forces had targeted Hamas infrastructure that led to the killing of Wael’s family members. But the question is how did IDF know that it was the Hamas centre where they dropped bombs? In fact, the IDF has been using the alibi of destroying Hamas infrastructure while targeting civilians. According to the latest reports, more than 8,000 people have been killed in Gaza in Israeli bombardments, and over 1400 were killed in Hamas action within Israel on October 7.
The names of journalists who were killed in Hamas action and Israeli attacks as per CPJ and RSF reports.
Ibrahim Mohammed Lafi (a photographer for Ain Media in Palestine), Mohammad Jarghoun (a journalist with Smart Media), Mohammad Al-Salhi(a photographer working with Fourth Authority news agency in Palestine), Yaniv Zohar (an Israeli photographer working for the Hebrew-language daily newspaper Israel Hayom was killed during Hamas attack on Kibbutz nahal), Ayelet Arnin (News Editor with the Israel Broadcasting Corporation Kan, killed during a Hamas attack on the Supernova music festival), Shai Regev (worked with Hebrew-language Maariv newspaper and killed in Hamas attack on Supernova festival), Assaad Shamlakh( a freelance journalist killed in Israeli airstrike in Gaza), Hisham Alnwajha (worked with Khabar news agency killed in Israeli attack in Gaza), Mohammed Sobh (Sobh, a photographer from Khabar news agency), Saeed al-Taweel (Al-Taweel, editor-in-chief of the Al-Khamsa News website), Mohamed Fayez Abu Matar ( a freelance photojournalist), Ahmed Shehab ( he worked for Sowt Al-Asra Radio, that is, Radio Voice of the Prisoners), Issam Abdallah (a Beirut-based videographer for the Reuters news agency), Husam Mubarak (who worked for the Hamas-affiliated Al Aqsa Radio), Salam Mema (a freelance women journalist), Yousef Maher Dawas (a writer for Palestine Chronicle), Abdulhadi Habib (he worked for Al-Manara News Agency and HQ News Agency), Issam Bhar (a journalist for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV), Mohammad Balousha of the Palestine Today, Sameeh Al-Nady of the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV, Khalil Abu Aathra (a videographer for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV), Mohammed Ali from Al-Shabab Radio (Youth Radio), Roee Idan (Israeli journalist), Roshdi Sarraj (co-founder of Palestine-based Ain Media), Mohammed Imad Labad (worked for the Al Resalah news website), freelance journalist Salma Mkhaimer, Ahmed Abu Mhadi affiliated with Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV, Saed Al-Halabi affiliated with the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV, Duaa Sharaf of Radio Al-Aqsa, Yasser Abu Namous of Al-Sahel media group and Nazmi Al-Nadim, affiliated with Palestine TV.
