The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned Israel's wholesale killing of Palestinian journalists and its block of communication services to stop news from getting out, stating its actions amount to the "eradication of journalism and the right to information in Gaza by the Israeli army."
The condemnation comes on the heels of another journalist being killed Thursday by Israel, raising the death toll to 124 since Oct. 7.
"Palestinian journalists killed, wounded, and prevented from working without any possibility of safe refuge," the Paris-based RSF said in a statement on Wednesday.
It called on international organizations to increase pressure on Israel to "immediately cease this carnage."
"Journalists are being decimated as the days of this interminable war go by, through incessant Israeli strikes from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip," the statement said.
The RSF added that journalists who have survived these four months are living "a daily hell," as they suffer shortages of all kinds, particularly of equipment, as well as regular media blackouts.
Noting that they filed two complaints with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and made repeated appeals to countries and international organizations, the nongovernmental organization (NGO) said it is once again urging the U.N. Security Council to "immediately enforce Resolution 2222 (2015) on the protection of journalists."
The group also touched on the situation in Rafah, the area that was previously described by Israel as a "security zone," noting that the vast majority of journalists, who had to flee to the south of Gaza, have taken refuge in Rafah, where the crossing point with Egypt is still closed.
Citing the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), the statement said that some 50 local and international media outlets in Gaza have been "totally or partially" destroyed by the Israeli army since Oct. 7, "in addition to the appalling death toll."
On Thursday, another Palestinian journalist was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, taking the tally to 124 since Oct. 7.
Nafez Abdel Jawad, a reporter for the official Palestine Television station, was killed in the central Gaza Strip, the media office said in a statement.
Around 10 Palestinian journalists have also been arrested by Israeli forces in Gaza, according to an earlier statement by the office.
Israel has indiscriminately pounded the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7 killing at least 27,840 Palestinians, mostly women and children, so far and causing the injuries of 67,317 others in its onslaught, according to local health authorities.
About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli offensive, while all of them are food insecure, according to the United Nations. Hundreds of thousands of people are living without shelter, and less than half of aid trucks are entering the territory than before the start of the attacks.
