Israel will be responsible for two-thirds of record 129 journalist deaths by 2025, watchdog finds

Last year, a record number of 129 journalists and media workers were killed in the line of duty, two-thirds of whom were killed by Israel, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Wednesday.

It was the second year in a row that press killings set a record and the second year in a row that Israel was responsible for two-thirds of them, the CPJ, a New York-based independent organization that documents attacks on the press, said in its annual report.

An Israeli fire killed 86 journalists, mostly Palestinians in Gaza, but also 31 workers, in an attack on a Houthi media center in Yemen in 2025, the second-deadliest attack CPJ has ever recorded, the report said.

Israel was also responsible for 81 percent of the 47 killings that CPJ classified as intentional or “murder.”

It said the actual figure was likely higher due to access restrictions that made verification in Gaza difficult.

The Israeli military says its forces in Gaza focus solely on fighters, but operating in combat zones carries inherent risks.

Israel acknowledged in September that it had attacked the media center in Yemen, describing it at the time as a propaganda arm of the Houthis.

In several cases, Israel has acknowledged targeting journalists in Gaza it said were linked to Hamas, without providing verifiable evidence.

International news organizations have strongly denied that slain reporters were linked to militants. The CPJ called such accusations of Israel “deadly slander.”

A statement from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it “strongly rejects” the claims made in the CPJ report.

“The IDF does not intentionally harm journalists or their family members,” the report said.

“The report is based on general allegations, data of unknown origin and predetermined conclusions, without taking into account the complexity of the battle or the IDF’s efforts to limit damage to non-combatants.”

Most journalists have been killed in connection with conflict

Israel does not allow foreign journalists to enter Gaza, so all media workers killed there were Palestinians.

The CPJ report states that “the Israeli military has now committed more targeted killings of the press than any other government army,” noting that CPJ began collecting data more than three decades ago.

According to the report, at least 104 of the 129 journalists killed were killed in connection with conflict.

Besides Gaza and Yemen, the deadliest countries for journalists include Sudan, where nine people were killed, and Mexico, where six people were killed.

Four Ukrainian journalists were killed by Russian forces and three journalists died in the Philippines, the report said.

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond specifically to the CPJ report, but referred to previous statements from the Russian Foreign Ministry accusing Ukraine of responsibility for the deaths of more than 60 individuals working for Russian media since 2014.

Russia has previously denied deliberately targeting journalists, while Ukraine has denied targeting Russian reporters.

Those killed in Gaza last year included Reuters journalist Hussam al-Masri, who was killed by Israeli fire in August while running a live video feed at the enclave’s Nasser hospital.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he regretted the attack, which also killed four other journalists, as a “tragic accident”.

The Israeli military had said it was targeting a Hamas camera, but a Reuters investigation found the device belonged to Reuters.

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