Israel killed at least 55 journalists in Gaza throughout 2025, forum says

At least 55 Palestinian journalists were killed by Israeli fire and missiles during 2025, bringing the total number of journalists killed since the start of the war on Gaza on 7 October 2023 to 257, according to the Palestinian Journalists Forum.

In a detailed statement issued on Saturday, the forum said 2025 witnessed a "dangerous and unprecedented escalation" in Israeli violations against press freedom.

It said journalists and media institutions were directly targeted as part of a systematic policy aimed at "silencing the Palestinian narrative and imposing a media blackout", describing the actions as a "flagrant violation of international laws and humanitarian conventions".

The forum said August 2025 was the deadliest month for journalists, with 13 killed.

Among them were six journalists who were killed by a direct Israeli strike while providing live, on-air coverage near Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

May ranked the second deadliest month, saw seven journalists killed. Among them was journalist Hassan Islih, who had survived a previous assassination attempt before being targeted again by Israeli missiles while receiving treatment inside Nasser Hospital.

The forum said the attack reflected a "blatant disregard for international humanitarian law and the sanctity of medical facilities".

The Palestinian Journalists Forum also said Israeli authorities continued the crime of enforced disappearance against three Palestinian journalists during 2025.

The journalists named were photojournalist Nidal al-Wahidi, photojournalist Haitham Abdel-Wahid, and journalist Ahmed al-Agha, all of whom have been missing since the start of the Israeli offensive.

According to the statement, the past year also saw dozens of journalists wounded, including cases of severe injury. A number of journalists were arrested from their workplaces and homes, as well as from inside hospitals, raising "serious concerns" over their lives and safety.

The forum pointed to reports of torture and grave violations committed against Palestinian detainees inside Israeli prisons.

The forum said Israeli authorities intensified policies of media blackout throughout 2025 by repeatedly cutting internet and communications services across Gaza, preventing foreign journalists from entering the territory, raiding and shutting down media institutions, confiscating journalists' equipment, and publicly inciting their killing.

It also accused Israel of passing laws restricting journalistic work and banning Palestinian media outlets and channels, describing these measures as a "blatant violation of freedom of expression and the right of peoples to access information".

The Palestinian Journalists Forum stressed that these violations "cannot be separated from their broader context," describing them as part of a systematic Israeli policy that "amounts to fully fledged war crimes".

It called for "urgent and serious international action" to hold Israel accountable, halt the targeting of journalists and media institutions, and provide international protection for journalists working in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Press freedom groups say Israel's war on Gaza has become the deadliest conflict on record for journalists, the vast majority of whom are Palestinian. 

The Committee to Protect Journalists and other monitoring organisations have documented the killing of well over 150 journalists and media workers since October 2023, a toll that exceeds journalist deaths in conflicts such as Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the former Yugoslavia.

Analysts have described the scale of the killings in Gaza as unprecedented in modern warfare, with local Palestinian journalists bearing the brunt of the violence.