Al Jazeera calls for global action to protect journalists in Gaza

Al Jazeera Media Network has called upon the global journalistic community, press freedom organisations, and relevant legal bodies to take decisive action to halt the forced starvation and crimes against journalists and media professionals in Gaza.

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On Wednesday, the network said Israeli bombardment and the systematic destruction of the nearly two million people of Gaza have pushed an entire population to the brink of survival.

Journalists in Gaza face extreme, often fatal, risks as they try to cover the war, including relentless Israeli airstrikes, the destruction of most of the territory’s infrastructure, the forced displacement of 90 per cent of Gaza’s population, trauma, and widespread famine, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

“The journalists on the ground, who have courageously reported on this ongoing genocide, have risked their lives and the safety of their families to shed light on these atrocities. However, they now find themselves fighting for their survival,” Al Jazeera said in a statement.

On Tuesday, the UN human rights office said more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food in the Gaza Strip, mostly near aid sites run by an American contractor.

Experts also said the Palestinian territory is at risk of famine because of Israel’s blockade and nearly two-year offensive. A breakdown of law and order has led to widespread looting and contributed to chaos and violence around aid deliveries.

On 19 July, Al Jazeera journalists began posting heart-wrenching messages on social media, signalling that their capacity to continue was waning. One powerful post by Anas AlShariff, Al Jazeera Arabic channel correspondent in Gaza, stated, “I haven’t stopped covering for a moment in 21 months, and today, I say it outright…And with indescribable pain. I am drowning in hunger, trembling in exhaustion, and resisting the fainting that follows me every moment… Gaza is dying. And we die with it.”

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“As these brave journalists continue to document the harrowing realities in Gaza, they are often overlooked, reduced to mere informants rather than being acknowledged as witnesses to their own stories,” Al Jazeera said.

Commenting on the plight of journalists in Gaza, Mostefa Souag, Director General of Al Jazeera Media Network, stated, “We owe it to the courageous journalists in Gaza to amplify their voices and put an end to the unbearable suffering they are enduring due to forced starvation and targeted killings by Israeli occupation forces.”

“The journalistic community and the world bear an immense responsibility; it is our duty to raise our voices and mobilise all available means to support our colleagues in this noble profession. If we fail to act now, we risk a future where there may be no one left to tell our stories. Our inaction will be recorded in history as a monumental failure to protect our fellow journalists and a betrayal of the principles that every journalist strives to uphold,” he added.

Since October 2023, the Israeli occupation forces have killed five Al Jazeera journalists, Samer Abudaqqa, Hamza AlDahdouh, Ismael Al-Ghoul, Ahmed Al-Louh, and Hossam Shabat, and many of the family members of Al Jazeera and other journalists.

The Israel-Gaza war has taken a catastrophic toll on Gazan journalists since Israel declared war on Hamas following its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

As of July 21, 2025, CPJ’s preliminary investigations showed that at least 186 journalists and media workers were among the tens of thousands killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and Lebanon since the war began, making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.

CPJ said it is investigating more than 130 additional cases of potential journalist killings, arrests, and injuries, and damage to media offices and homes, cases that remain difficult to document and verify amid these harsh conditions and devastation.

“Since the war in Gaza started, journalists have been paying the highest price – their lives – for their reporting. Without protection, equipment, international presence, communications, or food and water, they are still doing their crucial jobs to tell the world the truth,” said CPJ Chief Programmes Officer Carlos Martinez in New York.

“Every time a journalist is killed, injured, arrested, or forced into exile, we lose fragments of the truth. Those responsible for these casualties face dual trials: one under international law and another before history’s unforgiving gaze.”