Gaza Herald— Data gathered and analyzed by the Freedoms Committee of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, covering the period from October 7, 2023, through the end of 2025, points to a deliberate and intensifying campaign targeting Palestinian journalists.
The findings show that 2025 represented a decisive turning point, where violations escalated from intermittent harassment into an organized policy aimed at silencing the press through killing, maiming, and permanent injury.
According to the documentation, by the end of November 2025, at least 76 journalists had been injured, a figure the committee described as an alarming indicator of the scale and intent behind the attacks. Palestinian journalists, the report notes, are no longer at risk incidentally but are being targeted systematically and repeatedly.
From Suppression to “Neutralization” of the Press
In its annual report, the Freedoms Committee stated that throughout 2025, Israeli forces moved beyond restricting journalistic activity and adopted what it described as a strategy of “neutralizing” the media through lethal force. This approach, the Syndicate said, is designed to eliminate witnesses, obstruct documentation of violations, and erase the Palestinian narrative from the ground.
The committee identified 2025 as the deadliest year for journalists in Palestine, marked by repeated mass attacks, particularly in press tents, hospitals, and known media gathering points. It documented a sharp rise in direct, disabling strikes aimed at vital areas of the body, including the head, neck, chest, and abdomen. These attacks resulted in amputations, blindness, paralysis, and lifelong disabilities. The sources of danger were multiple and overlapping, involving the Israeli army, armed settlers, drones, and heavy artillery.
A Yearlong Escalation of Violence
Between January and March 2025, airstrikes on journalists’ homes continued across the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, especially in Jenin, Hebron, and Ramallah, journalists were shot with live ammunition. The committee also recorded a shift toward targeting journalists inside residential areas, where attacks were based not only on active coverage but on journalists’ identities themselves.
In April and May, the violence entered what the report described as a phase of deliberate “media massacres.” The bombing of a journalists’ tent at Nasser Hospital on April 7 and 8 was identified as a critical turning point. Nine journalists were wounded in a single strike, equipment was destroyed, and several victims later died from their injuries. The attack, carried out at a clearly marked and well-known press location using heavy weaponry, was described as a collective assault on the media and a complex war crime.
June saw further mass killings of journalists while they were reporting from schools, hospitals, and public spaces.
Permanent Injuries as a Recurrent Pattern
During July and August 2025, the committee documented a disturbing rise in permanent disabilities. Journalist Akram Dalloul lost his eyesight, Jamal Badah had his leg amputated, and Muhammad Fayeq was left permanently paralyzed. Numerous additional injuries targeted the head and neck, reinforcing the conclusion that these were not random wounds but deliberate strikes intended to disable rather than merely disperse.
From September through November, attacks expanded further as bombardment intensified in Gaza and settler violence surged in the West Bank, particularly in Beita and Hebron. Journalists were beaten, struck by vehicles, subjected to arson attacks, and had their equipment destroyed. Several were injured while covering the olive harvest, a civilian agricultural activity, underscoring what the committee described as coordinated violence between settlers and military forces.
Gaza Identified as the World’s Most Dangerous Place for Journalists
Geographically, the report concluded that the Gaza Strip had become the most dangerous location on earth for journalists. The highest concentration of attacks occurred in Gaza City, Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat, Jabalia, and Rafah, particularly in press tents, hospitals, shelters for displaced civilians, schools, and private homes.
In the West Bank, violations were concentrated in Jerusalem, Jenin, Nablus, Beita, Tulkarm, Hebron, and Ramallah.
Methods of Attack and Nature of Injuries
The Syndicate detailed a wide range of assault methods, including physical beatings, live fire, tear gas, stun grenades, and settler attacks carried out under military protection. Journalists were targeted using surveillance and explosive drones, aerial bombardment, artillery shells, rubber-coated and live bullets, baton beatings, rifle-butt strikes, and deliberate vehicular assaults.
Most injuries were concentrated in the head, causing severe bleeding, fractures, and vision loss, as well as in the neck, chest, abdomen, pelvis, and spine, resulting in paralysis, amputations, and long-term disability. The committee described many of these wounds as fatal or intentionally disabling.
Targeted Despite Clear Identification
The report emphasized that the overwhelming majority of these attacks occurred while journalists were performing their professional duties in clearly identifiable press locations. Many were wearing protective gear and visible press markings. Several journalists were targeted more than once, reinforcing the conclusion that the assaults were intentional.
“No Witnesses, No Narrative”
In its conclusion, the Freedoms Committee stated that the targeting of journalists in Palestine constitutes a direct assault on truth, freedom of expression, and the public’s right to know. It warned that continued international inaction and impunity only fuel further crimes against media workers.
Muhammad al-Lahham, head of the Committee for Freedoms, said the violations documented in 2025 amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. He described them as part of an official, systematic policy aimed at silencing a protected civilian group.
“What we are witnessing is not a series of isolated incidents,” al-Lahham said, “but a field doctrine based on one principle, no witnesses, no narrative, no image.”
He added that attacks on journalists in Palestine are no longer accidental or circumstantial, but have become an entrenched component of the occupation’s military and security practices.
