The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) said today that 11 journalists were killed by Israeli army gunfire and more than 20 others were injured since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip on October 7.

It said in a statement that Ahmad Shehab, programmer for Voice of Prisoners Radio, photojournalist Mohammad al-Salhi from the Fourth Estate Agency, photojournalist Mohammad Fayez Abu Matar, Khabar agency photographers Hisham Nawajha and Mohammad Abu Rizq, Ain Media photographer Ibrahim Lafi, editor-in-chief of the Fifth News Agency Saeed Taweel, Mohammad Jarghouth, from Smart Media Agency, Asaad Shamlikh, Salam Mema, and Hossam Mubarak were killed by the Israeli army.

The PJS said two journalists are still missing, namely photojournalist Nidal al-Wahidi, who works as a producer with al-Najah TV, and Haitham Abdel Wahed from the Ain Media Media Agency, and more than 20 journalists were injured in the ongoing aggression, while about 20 houses owned by journalists were bombed, some of which were completely destroyed and others were partially destroyed.

The PJS said that about 50 main and branch offices of media centers were bombed, including the offices of Al Jazeera, Palestine TV, AFP, Al-Aqsa, Ma’an News Agency, Sawa Agency, Shihab Agency, al-Quds newspaper, Radio Baladna, Zaman Radio, Watanya Agency, Khabar Agency, al-Ayyam newspaper, Event Media Services Company, Fadl Shanaa Foundation, Holy Quran Radio, Shams News Agency, and the APA office.

It stressed that the continued interruption of electricity and the Internet in the Gaza Strip limited the ability of journalists to continue their coverage of the Israeli aggression.

The PJS report touched on violations in the West Bank and Jerusalem, pointing out that many journalists were beaten, detained, and prevented from covering events, while shots were fired in 10 cases at journalists the last of which targeted Yazan Hamayel and Wahhaj Bani Mufleh, in the town of Beita, south of Nablus, in addition to the arrest of four journalists, namely Abdel Nasser Lahham, Sabri Jabr, Moath Amarneh, and Mustafa al-Khawaja, after the occupation forces raided their homes.

There were also 22 cases of holding and preventing crews from working, 10 beating attacks, and seven cases of seizing and destroying journalists’ equipment, in addition to jamming the Channel Four broadcast and hacking it, while Al-Aqsa TV was also forced to stop broadcasting on the Eutelsat satellite, said the report, adding that many journalists were threatened and incited against in Israeli pages on social media platforms, as was the case with the  journalist Muthanna al-Najjar from Gaza, as well as journalist Mohammad Turkman from the West Bank, in addition to monitoring many publications calling for the liquidation of journalists, describing them as “saboteurs” and “terrorists,” and an armed colonist’s threat to the Al-Arabi TV broadcaster was monitored live.

Source Wafa Press

BDST: 2100 HRS, OCT 16, 2023
MSK