Uncovering the systematic violence and censorship against journalists in Gaza, this article highlights Israel's media strategies and the urgent need for global accountability.
Image: IOL
By Omar Nazzal
The extent of the crimes and violations committed by the Zionist occupation against journalists and media outlets cannot be understood without considering them within the context of the Zionist strategy, which views media as a central front in parallel with its military operations and political movements.
The Zionist strategy in dealing with the media relies on two primary principles commonly found in communication theory and media studies:
1. Framing Theory, based on the idea of controlling minds and passing policies and information using several methods, the most prominent being repetition, ultimately leading to the stereotyping of images, especially when the information is false or misleading.
2. Gatekeeping, the concept of regulating the flow of information and opinions, where the occupation, through its censorship tools (Sensors) and security and governmental directives to Hebrew Zionist media, filters the information to create a narrative that supports a broader Zionist narrative, using journalists and analysts who are part of the occupation’s security system and complement its mechanisms. This also affects foreign and Arab media outlets, which form part of the larger colonial media system that serves as a multilingual propaganda arm that reaches what the Hebrew media cannot.
Alongside institutionalized media, social media platforms and outlets have assumed an additional colonial role, either by censoring or restricting content that supports the Palestinian cause or by amplifying and facilitating the spread of colonial and racist content.
According to a report published by the “Arab Center for the Development of Social Media / Campaign” in September 2024, titled “Palestinian Digital Rights in the Context of Genocide and the Responsibility of Big Tech Companies a Year After the War on Gaza,” more than 5,100 cases of digital censorship of pro-Palestinian content were recorded between October 7, 2023, and September 2024. Among the affected were 150 media outlets.
A report by “Human Rights Watch” titled “Broken Promises: Meta’s Policies and Censorship of Palestinian Content on Instagram and Facebook,” recorded 1,049 cases of removal and suppression of content supporting Palestinians, in contrast to a single instance supporting Israel. In the same context, the “Campaign” Centre’s report noted nearly 8 million tweets in Hebrew on social media platforms, categorised as hate speech and incitement against Palestinians, none of which were removed or resulted in penalties for the publishers.
To formalise and legitimise its communication and media operations, the occupation employs a system known as “Hasbara”, which has taken various forms and names since the emergence of the Zionist movement in the late 19th century, all the way to the Ministry of Information, which was one of the ministries in the current government before the resignation of its minister, Galit Distel-Atbaryan, about a month into the genocide war. The ministry was later dissolved, and its functions were transferred to new forms and various frameworks. The essence of “Hasbara” work is to whitewash and beautify the Israeli self-image while demonising the opposition. This is carried out in parallel with the operations of the cyber unit 8200, which specialises in surveillance, sabotage, espionage, spreading rumours, and deepening repetition, as mentioned earlier.
This situation represents one arm of the occupation’s clamp, while the other is the suppression of the truth, the suffocation and demonisation of any alternative narrative, and the erasure of counter-narratives. To achieve this, the occupying authorities pursue two parallel paths that converge on the same goal:
The first is known as soft violations, exerting influence, pressure, and coercion. One manifestation of this was the blocking of foreign journalists and media representatives from entering the Gaza Strip from the first day of the genocide, along with closing Gaza’s borders to them. Furthermore, Israeli forces bombed the offices of foreign agencies already operating in Gaza, preventing them from working and refusing to offer protection or guarantees against harm, instead requesting that their media outlets withdraw their journalists from Gaza, including Palestinian journalists.
On rare occasions, Israeli and foreign journalists were allowed in as military correspondents accompanying combat forces in predetermined locations designed to fit the occupation’s lies and deception, such as what occurred at Shifa Hospital on the night of November 15–16, 2023. This approach complements the global Zionist lobby’s control over a broad range of media outlets and international agencies, as well as some Arab media outlets that willingly engage in Zionist and Western colonial media efforts. In several cases, Arab and foreign journalists resigned from their positions in protest against bias, contributing to deception, and violating the professional standards of journalism.
These soft violations are no less significant or dangerous, as the Foreign Press Association issued a statement condemning the denial of access to Gaza, raising questions about what Israel does not want the international media to see. UN Secretary-General António Guterres commented that blocking international journalists from entering Gaza allows the spread of misinformation and false narratives.
The second line of attack involves violent crimes and severe violations against Palestinian journalists, Palestinian and Arab media outlets, and activists on social media platforms, which have been widespread in Gaza since October 7, 2023, and have also affected the West Bank and Lebanon.
These crimes and violations have taken various forms with unprecedented levels of intensity and violence, as confirmed by the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and the International Federation of Journalists in their statements and on their website. According to the Federation, 72% of the total number of journalists killed worldwide in 2023 were killed in Gaza in the last quarter of the year. It added that 146 journalists were killed between October 2023 and October 2024, including nine in Lebanon and one in Syria. The Federation considered this the deadliest period in the history of journalism.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate emphasizes in its statements, reports, and through its officials that the scale of the crimes against journalists is unparalleled in human history, including during the two World Wars or the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, describing what is happening as a media genocide occurring alongside the genocide against the Palestinian people.
If the concept of genocide, according to legal interpretations, is not only concerned with the scale of killings but also with intent and premeditation, then the description of what is happening as an “Information Genocide War” can be supported by two factors:
First, the percentage of journalist martyrs within the journalistic body is very high compared to any other professional sector. The percentage of martyrs in Gaza to the total population of the sector in the first year of the war was approximately 1.82% (41,974 martyrs out of 2,300,000 people), while the percentage of martyrs among journalists and media workers in Gaza was 9.2% (167 martyrs out of about 1,800 journalists).
Second, even though journalists are naturally among the most at-risk groups due to the nature of their profession and work, the intent to kill and premeditation, with conclusive evidence of such through incitement, threats, and the legalisation of targeting journalists, makes it irrefutable. For instance, on October 23, 2024, the spokesperson for the Israeli army, Avichai Adraee, published a list of six journalists from Gaza working in the north of Gaza, claiming that they were terrorists affiliated with Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movement, and that they should be punished. This was considered by the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, as a death sentence for them.
Additionally, an investigation by the British newspaper The Guardian, published in late June 2024, revealed that Israeli Air Force operations against Palestinian journalists in Gaza were intentional assassinations, and about one-third of the victims among Palestinian press workers were from media organisations considered by the Israeli army as legitimate targets for airstrikes.
The targeting of journalists did not stop at them alone, but also extended to their families, with the intent of revenge and deterrence. One notable case was the targeting of prominent journalist Mustafa al-Sawwaf, who was martyred along with 30 family members, including his journalist son Marwan, while his other journalist son, Montaser, was severely injured and later returned to work. He was again targeted and killed in another strike. There was also journalist Wael al-Dahdoh, who lost 13 family members, including his wife and two children, in an airstrike on his home, which was already known to the occupation authorities. He himself was severely injured in a subsequent strike, and later, his son journalist Hamza was killed. In total, 514 people from the families of journalists were martyred due to the targeting of 115 homes belonging to them, according to a report by the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate marking one year since the media genocide war.
The same report indicates that the occupation authorities committed 1,639 serious crimes and violations against the journalistic body in Gaza and the West Bank. In addition to the 167 martyred journalists, 357 journalists were injured by Israeli army and settler shells and gunfire, 125 journalists were arrested, and two journalists remain in enforced disappearance. The majority of violations related to temporary detention, blocking coverage, and the destruction of equipment, in addition to daily violations of the right to free movement for all Palestinian journalists.
In response to the scale of these crimes, significant international positions and condemnations have been issued, including the statement from the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who expressed his shock at the large number of journalists killed in Gaza.
UNESCO awarded its prestigious 2024 Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to journalists in Gaza, considering it “a message of solidarity and appreciation for journalists who cover in such tragic circumstances and who humanity owes a lot for their courage and commitment to freedom of expression.”
Also, UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression Irene Khan stated that the conflict in Gaza is the deadliest and most dangerous for journalists, concluding with an important result in which she acknowledged the international system’s failure to take any action to protect Palestinian journalists. There is killing, impunity, and a lack of justice.
This conclusion by Irene Khan dismantles all the structures and approaches adopted by the UN to protect journalists and provide a safe working environment for them, starting with the historic Windhoek Declaration of 1991, followed by the 1993 General Assembly resolution establishing May 3 as World Press Freedom Day, and the 163/68 resolution declaring November 22 as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, leading to the 2015 UN Security Council Resolution 2222, which obligates member states, among other points, to respect the professional independence of journalists and media staff and to protect media equipment and facilities, even in armed conflict situations.
The information genocide war being waged by the occupation within what it considers an existential battle, or “resurrection war” as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later called it, is not separate from a historical context of ongoing crimes but rather a concentration of a continuing situation that began with the assassination of the martyr journalist and writer Ghassan Kanafani in Beirut on July 8, 1972, up to the deliberate killing of Palestinian journalism icon Shireen Abu Akleh, and the numerous other killings during the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000 and the Gaza war of 2014.
This context of crimes is also tied to the international system’s inability to stop or take any practical steps to protect Palestinian journalists or implement its decisions on not allowing impunity for those who commit crimes against journalists. This includes not seriously addressing three cases submitted to the International Criminal Court since 2021, even failing to begin investigations into the killing of martyrs journalist Ahmed Abu Hussein and Yasser Murtaja in Gaza in the spring of 2018, and martyr Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin in May 2022, despite compelling evidence. This led the President of the International Federation of Journalists, Dominique Pradalié, to state that this year represents yet another sad day for impunity, and that there is no free and safe environment for journalists to work in.
Impunity, which contradicts the commitments and resolutions of the United Nations and the states that have signed them, along with the lack of practical outcomes from institutions and entities supporting journalists’ rights, places Palestinian journalists in major challenges and raises the question of the effectiveness of working in journalism given the risks and costs that journalists pay. However, the answer to this question is reflected in the determination of Palestinian journalists to continue their work, even with increasing numbers of journalists joining the profession, sometimes without any financial compensation.
By doing so, they undermine the deterrence strategy employed by the occupation, contribute to resisting the outputs of “Hasbara”, thwart part of the work of Cyber Unit 8200, and preserve the narrative of truth and Palestinian rights.
* Omar Nazzal is a journalist and contributor to the Palestine Journalists Syndicate.
* This article was originally published by the Institute for Palestine Studies.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.