Israel Kills Five Journalists in Sunday Gaza Attacks

Israel has come under growing international criticism for its deliberate attacks on journalists. That doesn’t seem to be impacting Israeli policy, however, as five more journalists were reported killed today in attacks across the Gaza Strip.

The victims of today’s attacks included  Saed Radwan with Al-Aqsa TV, Hamza Abu Salmiya with Sanad News Agency, Haneen Baroud with Al-Quds Foundation, Abdulrahman Al-Tanani with Sawt Al-Shaab, and Nadia Al-Sayed, who works for multiple outlets.

Radwan, Salmiya and Baroud were all killed in an Israeli attack on a UN school in al-Shati refugee camp, where people were sheltering from the ongoing attacks. Nine civilians overall, including the three journalists, were slain in the attack. The other two were killed in separate attacks.

This brings the number of journalists killed in the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip to at least 180. This toll is on top of those killed in other Israeli wars, including three Lebanese journalists who were killed in a deliberate Israeli attack on Friday.

Though Israel rarely offers specific comments on the individual assassinations, they have been making a concerted effort to brand a number of journalists as “terrorists.” Though this is being criticized by international press groups, it likely will reduce the specific questions about their eventual killing being an effort to silence reports on Israeli war crimes.

As with other civilians, many journalists are being forced to flee their homes as Israeli attacks approach. Israel has forbidden foreign journalists from entering the Gaza Strip to cover the war, and that means all the reports are coming from a shrinking number of local journalists who are still alive.