Rabat – Israel has killed more journalists in 2025 than any other country, according to a new report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released on Tuesday.
The press freedom organization said Israeli forces, responsible for the ongoing genocidal war in Gaza, killed 29 Palestinian journalists this year. It is the third consecutive year that Israel tops the list of countries where the most journalists are killed.
Israel killed a total of 67 journalists in 2025, one more than in 2024. The report said that nearly half (43%) of the journalists killed in the past 12 months were killed in Gaza by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF).
Since October 2023, the IOF has killed nearly 220 journalists, “at least 65 of whom were slain either due to their work or while they were working,” according to RSF.
“Journalists do not just die – they are killed,” reads the report, warning that the number of killed journalists is on the rise again “due to the criminal practices of military groups — both regular and paramilitary — and organised crime.”
Thibaut Bruttin, RSF’s director general, said that the journalists killed this year were not murdered “by accident, and they weren’t collateral victims.”
“They were killed, targeted for their work,” he stressed.
Bruttin said it is completely legitimate to criticize the media and journalists’ reporting, but “it must never descend into hatred of journalists, which is largely born out of — or deliberately stoked by — the tactics of armed forces and criminal organizations.”
He added the rise in killings reflects the “failure” of international institutions to protect journalists in conflict zones, and the “global decline in the courage of governments” to defend press freedom.
The worst single attack against journalists in Gaza took place on August 25, when a “double-tap” strike hit a hospital in southern Gaza. Five journalists were killed, including Al Jazeera photographer Mohammad Salama and contributors to Reuters and the Associated Press.
According to Shireen.ps, a monitoring group named after Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, nearly 300 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza in the 26 months since the war began, an average of 12 journalists every month.
Israel continues to block foreign journalists from entering Gaza unless they join tightly controlled military tours, despite repeated calls from media organizations for open access.