Murder of Journalists

Counter-Terrorism Law, Amendment No. 9 - In 2023, the Knesset approved an amendment to Israel's Counter-Terrorism Law, under which a sentence of up to a year in prison can be imposed on anyone who "systematically and continuously consumes terrorist publications,” which are defined as "a direct call to commit an act of terrorism" or "words of praise, sympathy or encouragement for an act of terrorism.”

Al Jazeera Law - In May 2024, Netanyahu’s cabinet passed the 'Al Jazeera Law,' voting to shut Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel. The law also prohibits broadcasting and internet companies, and YouTube from providing services to the network inside Israel. Later in September that year, Israeli forces also stormed Al Jazeera’s offices in the occupied West Bank’s Ramallah city, confiscating equipment and documents, closing the network’s office. In 2025, the Israeli parliament approved an extension of 2024's 'Al Jazeera Law,' for two more years.

Slain Journalists

More journalists have been killed in Gaza than in both world wars, Vietnam, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan combined.

During the Gaza war, the Israeli army carried out attacks that struck private residences even when there is no known or clear military target. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, by Nov. 29, Israel had killed 50 Palestinian journalists in Gaza, some of them in their homes with their families.

Hamed Shehab - In 2014, Israel bombed a media car in the centre of Gaza City's busiest shopping street, killing Hamed Shehab, who worked for the Gaza-based news website Media 24.

Assult of activist - In 2018, If Americns Knew redorded an Israeli man getting out of his car, strikes a woman in the face. Israeli soldiers  witnessed the violence but nothing was done in fact the Palestinians and supporters were chased out and after the people dispersed the soldiers invaded the Palestinian village to punish the town for protesting.

Shireen Abu Akleh - In 2022, a Christian Palestinian-American journalist with US citizenship named Shireen Abu Akleh was in the occupied West Bank doing a story for Al Jazeera about an Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. One of her colleagues was also injured in the targeted killing. Abu Akleh was known internationally for her reporting on the Middle East and was especially famous within Israel and Palestine, recognized for her decades of coverage of the region. Early on the morning of May 11th, 2022, Abu Akleh, wearing a blue vest clearly marked press, was shot and killed after IDF soldiers opened fire at a group of Alazer journalists from a position believed to be less than 200 m away. There was no active firefight and there were no Palestinian militants in the area where Abu Akleh was shot. She was intentionally sniped by an Israeli who was almost certainly targeting her specifically using a scoped rifle and continued shooting when survivors attempted to retrieve her wounded body. After her death the Israelis raided her house. An IDF spokesperson later described Shireen a being ''armed with cameras''.

Over the following months, media organizations from around the world gathered enough video and eyewitness evidence to demonstrate that the fatal shot could only have come from the Israelis, and they were almost certainly aware that they were shooting at an American journalist. Reporters later uncovered persuasive evidence that the Israelis immediately knew who had killed Abu Akleh, but tried to conceal the shooter's identity and intentionally lied to the American government and media. Despite overwhelming proof of who was responsible, the Israeli government never opened a criminal investigation into Abu Akleh's murder. The US State Department released a report calling the killing the result of tragic circumstances, but multiple people involved in compiling the report later told the New York Times that it had been significantly watered down to create confusion regarding who was responsible and deflect blame from the Israelis. The assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh was almost completely ignored by mainstream American media. The New York Times initially published a false report claiming that Abu Akleh had been killed during an exchange of gunfire between the IDF and Palestinian militants, even though the Alazer article they cited as the story's source contained no such claim.

When a funeral procession for Abu Akleh left a hospital in occupied East Jerusalem carrying her body, Israeli police attacked the mourners, beating them with trenchons, causing the coffin to be dropped to the ground, in a scene condemned by the EU and UN.

The Israeli police smashed the window of her hearse and removed Palestine flags from it.

Ghufran Hamad Warasneh - In 2022, the IDF shot journalist for Dream Radio, Ghufran Hamad Warasneh, in the chest, in the occupied West Bank. The IDF were filmed obstructed ambulance crews, firing bullets in the air, while she bled for 20 minutes before being attended to, at which point she was dead. 

At her funeral, occupation forces were filmed attacking mourners, firing tear gas and sound grenades at them.

Roshdi Sarraj - In 2023, Roshdi Sarraj, 31, a journalist from Gaza who was born in Britain, founded a media outlet in Gaza called “Ain Media.” On Oct. 22, an Israeli bomb struck his parents’ home where he was sleeping, killing him.

Salam Mema - In 2023, journalist Salam Mema died under the ruins of her home after it was bombed; of her three young children, Hadi, 7, died, while Sham, 3, has not yet been found under the rubble. Two other journalists, Duaa Sharaf and Salma Makhaimer, were killed together with their children in their homes.

Issam Abdallah - In 2023, Reuters journalist, Issam Abdallah was murdered by the IDF who fired an artilary shell at the crew, which was live streaming from the Lebanon-Israel border. In the video, a woman can be heard crying: “I can’t feel my legs!”

Ismail Abu Omar - In 2024, Al Jazeera journalists, Ismail Abu Omar and his cameraman, Ahmad Matar, were targeted by an Israeli drone strike in the Miraj area, north of Rafah. Both survive, but Simail lost both of his legs, as can be seen in a video of the aftermath. The crew members were wearing clearly marked "PRESS" vests and helmets while reporting on displaced Palestinian civilians when the strike occurred.

Amal Khalil - In 2026, Journalist Amal Khalil said In a video: "I received direct threats targeting me on my phone from the Mossad, from the Israelis, and they threatened to kill me. They were literally saying they would sever my head from my shoulders if I didn’t leave south Lebanon." Shortly after, she was killed with a precise drone strike.

Hadi Hoteit - In 2026, Hadi Hoteit, a journalist for PressTV was filmed getting hit by an Israeli drone while reporting on the aftermath of Israeli attacks in the town of Kafr Tebnit, in the Nabatieh district of southern Lebanon.