Bearing Witness at an Unthinkable Cost: Why Are So Many Journalists Being Killed in Gaza?

In any conflict, we rely on journalists to be our eyes and ears on the ground. They run towards danger to show the world what is happening. But in the current conflict in Gaza, the people telling the story are becoming the story itself, for a tragic reason: a shockingly high number of them are being killed.

International organizations like the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have called this conflict the deadliest for journalists since they began keeping records. The vast majority of those killed are Palestinian reporters. This raises a crucial and heartbreaking question: why?

The answer isn’t simple. It’s a combination of several dangerous factors.

1. A War with No Front Lines

In many traditional wars, there are clear “front lines” – areas where fighting is happening. Journalists can try to stay behind these lines to report with a bit more safety.

Gaza is different. It is one of the most densely populated places on Earth. The conflict involves airstrikes, artillery, and urban combat in crowded neighbourhoods. There is no truly “safe” zone. A missile can strike any building, at any time. A journalist’s home, their office, or the car they travel in is just as vulnerable as anywhere else. They are living in the war zone they are trying to cover.

2. Local Journalists Can’t Leave

Most of the journalists killed are Palestinian. Unlike foreign correspondents who might be flown in and can be evacuated by their news agencies, local journalists live in Gaza. It is their home. They are reporting on the destruction of their own neighbourhoods and the suffering of their own communities. They share the same risks as every other civilian—lack of food, clean water, shelter, and medical care—on top of the dangers of reporting.

When their families are forced to move, they move with them. When the bombs fall, they fall on their homes, too.

3. Are They Being Targeted?

This is the most difficult and debated part of the issue.

• The View from Media Watchdogs: Groups that protect journalists, like the CPJ and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), have documented cases they believe are deeply troubling. They point to journalists killed in airstrikes while wearing clear “PRESS” vests or travelling in marked vehicles. Some attacks have hit the homes of journalists or killed multiple members of their families along with them. These groups argue that even if not all attacks are intentional, not enough is being done by the Israeli military to protect journalists, who are considered civilians under international law.
• The View from the Israeli Military: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has repeatedly stated that it does not intentionally target journalists. Their position is that they are targeting Hamas and other militant groups. They argue that sometimes, journalists may be in or near an area where a Hamas operative or military asset is located, and they get caught in a legitimate strike. In the chaos of war, they say, it can be hard to tell who is who from the air or in a fast-moving battle.

This disagreement leaves a painful grey area. But for the reporters on the ground, the result is the same: they are dying at an alarming rate.

4. The Loss of Information

When a journalist is killed, it’s not just a personal tragedy—it’s an attack on the truth. Every journalist who dies leaves a void. That’s one less person to document what is happening to civilians, to film the aftermath of a strike, or to tell the stories of people caught in the conflict.

Without journalists on the ground, it becomes much harder for the outside world to get a clear picture of the situation. Information becomes a weapon, and misinformation can spread more easily.

A Heavy Price for the Truth

The journalists of Gaza are paying the ultimate price to bear witness. They are killed in airstrikes, caught in the crossfire, and lose their families and homes. Whether they are being deliberately targeted or are tragic casualties of a brutal urban war, their deaths have a chilling effect. It silences voices we desperately need to hear and makes an already devastating conflict even harder to understand.

Protecting them isn’t just about saving lives; it’s about protecting our right to know. When a journalist is silenced, we all lose a piece of the truth.