August 13, 2025 — The Society of Environmental Journalists joins the Committee to Protect Journalists [2] and other press organizations in condemning Israel’s killing of six journalists in a targeted air strike in Gaza on Sunday.

Israel’s military has acknowledged [3] it carried out the attack on a tent where the journalists worked near a hospital in Gaza City. The military said its target was Anas al-Sharif, whom it had recently accused of heading a Hamas cell while posing as a reporter. In late July, CPJ called the charges “unfounded accusations” and expressed concern [4] for his safety, saying it feared the allegations would be used as a pretext to kill al-Sharif.

Killed in the tent along with al-Sharif were three other members of Al Jazeera’s news operation, along with two freelance journalists, according to CPJ.

The August 10 attack brings to 10 the number of Al Jazeera staffers killed in Gaza during the Hamas-Israel war. Another eight journalists freelancing for the organization also have been killed, according to CPJ.

In December 2023, SEJ issued a statement [5] decrying the killing, wounding and harassment of journalists by all parties in the war two months after it began in October 2023. At that time, the death toll was 68 – 61 Palestinian, 4 Israeli and 3 Lebanese. Since then, the number of journalists killed has grown to 192, which according to CPJ was more than were killed worldwide in the three years before the war started.

“The world needs to see these deadly attacks on journalists inside Gaza, as well as its censorship of journalists in Israel and the West Bank, for what they are: a deliberate and systematic attempt to cover up Israel’s actions,” said Sara Qudah, CPJ’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

SEJ also echoes the concerns raised by the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association [6]about journalists being systematically cut off from food, water, and medicine while continuing to report under siege.

As we said in 2023, a free and independent press is critically important in wartime to provide reliable reports of conditions in conflict zones, document atrocities and potential war crimes and alert the public to safety threats.

That is the opposite of what is happening in Gaza now. SEJ calls for an immediate end to targeted attacks on journalists and demands those responsible be held legally accountable.

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Update, August 25, 2025 — Israeli missile strikes near the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza killed at least 19 people on Monday, August 25, including five journalists, according to news reports [7]. The journalists killed in the attack included reporters working for AP [8], Reuters [9] and Al Jazeera [10].

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports at least 197 journalists and media workers [11] have been killed in the Gaza conflict so far, including 189 Palestinians.

Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, Israel has refused to allow independent foreign media to access Gaza unescorted [12].