On Sunday, in a targeted attack in front of a hospital, Israel killed four journalists, among them one of the symbols of reporting from Gaza, Anas al-Sharif. This killing of journalists is neither the beginning nor, unfortunately, the end of Israel’s showdown with the truth, but it has highlighted the betrayal of Palestinian journalists.
From October 7th, 2023, to August 11th, 2025, Israel has killed 274 journalists in Gaza, of whom 269 are Palestinians. Such extermination of journalists has not been recorded in any other conflict, but it is especially significant when one considers that Israel does not allow journalists to enter the Gaza Strip. In this way, through the systematic elimination of journalists, Israel is not only trying to limit the flow of information from Gaza but also to take control of shaping the narrative about events.
The killing of al-Sharif and his colleagues, Mohammed Qreiqeh, cameraman Ibrahim Zaher, and crew member and driver Mohammed Noufal, has even forced some Western media outlets to finally speak up about the extermination of Palestinian journalists, but this reaction came too late and means too little.
Thus, in what was quite unthinkable, Sky News journalist Jayne Secker snapped at the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman when he said that Al Jazeera is “a terrorist organization,” replying, “No, Al Jazeera is an international news agency.” CNN correspondent Clarissa Ward, after the killing, said they were “angry, furious, powerless, and ashamed.”
“We are faced with a series of accusations from the IDF aimed at dehumanizing our Palestinian colleagues, aimed at justifying their killings. And the nature of the carefully calibrated language we use in our stories seems to many so detached and so disproportionate to the agony and outrage of the moment. And behind the scenes, many of us are still pushing, applying pressure, signing letters, writing petitions, and holding meetings, and it seems that none of it makes any difference,” Ward said.
The Guardian published an editorial titled ‘The Guardian view on Anas al-Sharif and Gaza’s journalists: Israel is wiping out the witnesses.’
That these reactions are too little and insignificant is also illustrated by the message from Palestinian journalist Hind Khoudary, who reports from Gaza.
“I will not speak to foreign media about the killing of Palestinian journalists. I will not sit on your global channels to be part of a segment you will forget by tomorrow. To you, we are just a front page – a tragedy to be consumed, not colleagues to be defended. We are hunted and killed in Gaza while you watch silently. For two years, your fellow journalists here have been slaughtered. What have you done? Nothing. Or maybe it’s because we are Palestinian journalists – in your eyes, we don’t count as ‘real’ colleagues,” Khoudary wrote in a post on Twitter.
The real question is where the line is drawn with human lives. Was the killing of more than 200 journalists earlier not enough to draw the line and designate Israel as a pariah? Why were the murders of journalist Wael Dahdouh’s family so quickly forgotten, or even earlier, the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, committed in the West Bank on May 11th, 2022? It should also be emphasized that one constant, besides killing journalists, is Israel’s lying – first claiming they did not kill them, or now, in the case of Gaza, fabricating stories about links to Hamas as the ultimate justification for every crime.
The answer to these questions requires deep introspection not only from media outlets but also from Western society, and the answers reached will not be pleasant.
One of the fundamental myths on which liberal Western democracy is based is freedom of speech, and it is reflected in the protection of journalists. After the terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo newsroom in Paris, world leaders gathered and marched together through Paris, with a series of messages about how this was an attack on the free world. It is especially ironic that Benjamin Netanyahu was in the first row with the world leaders.
It goes without saying that the killing of any journalist is worthy of condemnation, but it is necessary to point out the hypocrisy of those who choose which journalists to protect. The European Union (EU) has still not imposed sanctions on Israel, even though more than 60.000 people have been killed in Gaza and, due to Israel’s blockade, children are dying of hunger.
In addition to the fact that “democratic” countries have not been particularly upset about the killing of journalists, there is also an orientalist approach of not trusting the reports of local journalists. Israel’s crimes in Gaza have been documented thanks to journalists there, and the entry of foreign journalists should not be used as an argument in that regard.
The answer to the questions in this text lies in the still-living colonial spirit of Europe, where Gaza and the people of Gaza are still viewed as something other, as if the people there live more than one life, so their death is not a tragedy but rather a reality to which one should get used. In such a colonial worldview, even journalists in Gaza are not the same as journalists in Paris, Berlin, or London – but history will remember that journalistic honor was defended in Gaza.
