The ongoing conflict in Gaza has emerged as the deadliest war for journalists in modern history. Two Palestinian journalists were killed in Israeli attacks just this week, underscoring the extreme risks faced by reporters in the region. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 165 journalists have been killed since October 2023 — a staggering number that surpasses the total journalist fatalities during the entire span of World War II.
The conflict has escalated to a critical point, with Israel resuming strikes on Gaza after breaking a ceasefire with Hamas. Amid this humanitarian catastrophe, journalists persist in their crucial role, risking their lives to document the unfolding events and bring critical information to the world.
In response to attacks on Palestinian journalists, Forbidden Stories launched the Gaza Project — a collaboration bringing together over 40 journalists from 12 organizations, including the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism and The Intercept. Their mission: investigate and expose the unprecedented threats facing journalists in Gaza and the West Bank.
On this week's episode of The Intercept Briefing, Hoda Osman, the executive editor of Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, says the killings have become hauntingly familiar: “A repeated scene seeing a journalist is being killed, and you get the news, and then you see their bodies with a bloodied press vest. And then you see the mourning of their colleagues and their families.”
In addition to this extreme risk, Osman says the daily realities confronting Palestinian reporters are difficult to imagine. “I was speaking to a journalist there and she's telling me how hard it is because it's Ramadan and they fast, and at the end of the day at sunset, they're supposed to break fast, but there is no food. And how they're all starting to become extremely weak because of the lack of food. And that was before even the strikes began again,” she says.
“Most of them are living in tents,” Osman adds. “A few weeks ago when the weather was really cold, one of the journalists was texting me how they don't know what to do to be warm. They're constantly cold. And then she sent me videos of — it had rained — the whole tent just completely flooding.”
But despite all these personal challenges, they keep going.
Listen to the full conversation of The Intercept Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
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