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A new committee report to protect journalists on Wednesday that 2024 saw a record number of journalists killed worldwide.
Israel was responsible for almost 70 percent of those killed in the last year, with Sudan and Pakistan having the second highest deaths, according to the report Recommendations.
The executive director of the Journalist Protection Committee (CPJ), Jodie Ginsberg, said it is “the most dangerous moment to be a journalist in the history of the CPJ.”
“The war in Gaza is not preceded on its impact on journalists and demonstrates great deterioration in global standards to protect journalists in conflict areas, but is far from being the only place in danger,” Ginsberg said in a statement on Wednesday.
The committee’s report said at least 124 journalists in 18 different countries were killed last year, marking the most fatal year for journalists and media workers since CPJ began to collect the data and register them more than three decades ago.
The number of journalists and media workers killed in 2024 compared to previous years has seen a strong increase. According to the report, 102 were killed in 2023 and 69 were killed in 2022.
The previous previous records were in 2007, when 113 journalists lost their lives, almost half due to the Iraq war, CPJ said.
85 journalists killed in Israeli attacks in 2024
The CPJ said that the Israel-Gaza War has explained the death of 85 journalists, including 82 in Gaza and three in Lebanon, almost two thirds or 70 percent, at the hands of the Israeli army in 2024. Some 78 journalists were killed in Gaza the previous year, in 2023, according to the committee.
The Committee accused Israel of trying to quell incident investigations, changing journalists and ignoring their duty to hold people holding people to account for murders.
The Israeli army, when comments were requested, said that sufficient information was provided about the alleged incidents and that, therefore, he could not verify them, and added that all the operationally feasible measures are needed to mitigate the damage to journalists and civilians
“The IDF never, and never, will deliberately go to journalists,” said the army.
At least six journalists and media workers have been killed worldwide since the beginning of this year, CPJ said.
‘Increase in hazards’ for reporters, media workers: report
Sudan and Pakistan had the second highest number of killed journalists, after Israel, in 2024.
Tens of thousands of civilians were killed and millions were displaced in the brutal Civil War of Sudan. CPJ said he discovered that three journalists were killed in relation to their work and is investigating the reason for the murder of a room. He also recorded the murders of two media workers.
He said that six journalists were killed in Pakistan, as political disturbances and media censorship increased, although the country had no such deaths since 2021.
“All 2024 murders point to Increase in the dangers faced by reporters and media workers – And the threat that represents the flow of information worldwide, “said Wednesday’s report.
Look | The Palestinian journalist in Gaza said that his work made him a goal:
Diaa Al-Ustaz says that his work did his colleagues an objective, and the International Federation of Journalists reported this month that at least 152 journalists have died covering the war.
CPJ said he had documented an “alarming increase in the number of specific murders,” and added that at least 24 journalists were deliberately killed due to their work last year, even in Haiti, Mexico, Myanmar, Sudan and other places. He said he had documented at least 10 cases of specific murders by Israel.
The committee said that another 20 murders in which Israel can have specifically directed to journalists is also investigating.
Increased death of independent workers
Another figure that saw an increase in deaths last year was the number of independent workers killed in conflict areas.
The report said that 43 journalists and media workers, more than a third, killed in 2024 were independent workers.
“Another new gloomy record for the members of the press on their own who often face the greatest danger because they have the least amount of resources,” he said.
Of these, 31 Freelancers were killed in Gaza, leaving 14 in 2023.
Gaza journalists were the only media in the territory devastated by the war that provided crucial coverage for global media, including CBC news, during the war of almost 16 months as the members of the media foreigners were prohibited to enter, except in very controlled visits led by the Israeli army.
A high gradual fire between the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel began on January 19, but is currently in danger. Israel promised to destroy Hamas after the attack of October 7, 2023 in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages, according to Israeli counts.
According to Palestinian health authorities, more than 48,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Israel retaliation assault.
A study reviewed by pairs published in The lancet On January 9, he suggests that official death figures in Gaza can be underestimated significantly. On June 30, 2024, the Gaza Ministry of Health reported 37,877 deaths; The study estimated that the number was probably around 64,200 for that date.
CPJ said that his methodology to record the murder of a journalist in his database is whether he has reasonable reasons to believe that they may have been killed in relation to his work: either accidentally murdered in an area of conflict or in a dangerous task, or deliberately killed due to their journalism.
The report also noted that the murders “are not the only indicators of a dangerous media panorama,” and added that no journalist was killed in Somalia, Cameroon or Afghanistan in 2024, but the reporters still faced another pressure as reported arrests, assaults and censorship.
