They did not carry weapons in their hands. His work tools were photo or video cameras, microphones, notebooks or a simple mobile phone, like his or mine. Many were clearly identified with a blue helmet and bulletproof vest and a word in white letters: Press . They were journalists and have died in the war between Israel and Hamas at the rate of one a day since October 7.
In the two months of conflict, 63 informants have died: 56 Palestinians, four Israelis and three Lebanese. The Committee for the Protection of Journalists, based in New York, has the grim account and says it has never seen a conflict so deadly for journalists before.
No Western media is reporting independently with its journalists from inside the Strip and Israel has confirmed to the international agencies Reuters (British) and AFP (French) that if they send journalists to Gaza it cannot guarantee their safety as Hamas deliberately sides with journalists and civilians. The Palestinian reporters trapped in the Strip - like the rest of the civilians - are therefore helpless. Like the journalist Mohamed Abu Hatab, who was killed by the Israeli bombings along with 11 other members of his family.
"International journalists are prohibited from entering Gaza. The journalists inside have no safe haven and no way out. They are being killed one after the other", reported Jonathan Dagher, head of the Middle East for Reporters Without Borders (RSF). "In a classic war, such as in Syria, Iraq or the former Yugoslavia, we did not see this type of slaughter" of journalists, said Anthony Bellanger, secretary general of the International Federation of Journalists.
They are part of the thousands of civilian victims of the atrocious terrorist attack by Hamas that caused 1,200 deaths and, in a much higher number, of Israel's cruel response, which adds up to more than 17,000 deaths in a Gaza where half of the population has already lost their homes.
The lives of journalists are worth no more than those of the rest of the civilian victims of the conflict, thousands of children among them, but the death of dozens of journalists on the ground limits the ability for the rest of the world to know the extent of the Gaza tragedy.
