A third of journalists killed in 2024 died under bombs in Gaza, deplores RSF

In 2024, Gaza has become the most dangerous region in the world for journalists, “where journalism itself is threatened with disappearance,” deplores Reporters Without Borders in its latest annual report. Passing the microphone Midi infoFriday, the director general of the NGO, which campaigns for the defense of press freedom in the world, sounded the alarm.

We see practices of the Israeli army which consist of targeting journalistsdeplores Thibaut Bruttin.

We have really entered into a logic of propaganda where the goal is to liquidate journalists so that we do not know what is happening in this conflicthe adds.

In its report for 2024, Reporters Without Borders puts the number of journalists killed this year at 54 in the course of or because of their duties.

The censuses of RSF include only journalists whose death or imprisonment has been verified by the body. It is therefore possible that this number is actually higher.

Among them, 18 were killed by the Israeli armed forces, according to the RSF report which was published on December 1. This figure therefore does not include, in particular, the journalist from the Qatari channel Al Jazeera, Ahmed Al-Louh, killed on December 15 during a strike which targeted the Nousseirat refugee camp, in the center of the besieged territory. It also does not include the five journalists killed last Thursday during a strike on the same camp.

Following this strike, the Israeli army denied targeting journalists, instead claiming to have targeted “terrorists” from Islamic Jihad, a militant group allied with Hamas, including the October 7, 2023 attack in the south of Israel started the war.

Since this date, more than 155 journalists were killed by the Israeli army in Gaza and Lebanonspecifies the RSF report, which mentions an unprecedented massacre.

After the Gaza Strip, Pakistan comes second among the most dangerous countries for journalists, where seven deaths were recorded in 2024. It is closely followed by Bangladesh, shaken this summer by violently repressed demonstrations which caused the death of five journalists. The same number of media workers killed in the line of duty have been recorded in Mexico, where cartels frequently silence critics through assassination.

According to RSF boss Thibaut Bruttin, conflicts are increasingly “deadly for journalists”.

In recent years, the proportion has risen to a third of journalists killed. They were generally killed by drug traffickers and organized crime, but [cette année]for almost 60% of them, they were killed in the context of conflicts.

In 2024, this proportion actually reached a peak, at 57.4%, while it was at a low, at 19.6%, in 2020, the report indicates.

Imprisonments on the rise

RSF also notes a 7% increase in the number of journalists imprisoned since last year, a phenomenon which is not slowing down, according to Mr. Bruttin.

The repressive regime, which is the norm in many countries, is expanding. There are countries like China where we see a practice that is clear: it is that of incarcerating all people who disturb, and journalists are part of it.he maintains.

Of the 550 journalists currently detained around the world because of their work, 124 are incarcerated in China, according to the organization.

RSF also reports that several journalists taken hostage, mainly in Syria, are still missing.