Stories on health, education, crime, politics, culture… all gone.
At least 57 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Israel’s war against Hamas*.
If a journalist is involved in a minimum of two stories a week for an average career spanning 35 years, that means more than 3,500 stories in their working lifetime. That’s over 200,000 stories that won’t be told.
Gaza is sealed off – a very limited number of civilians have left, no journalists can enter. Journalists trapped inside Gaza continue reporting the news despite ground, sea and air assaults, regular communications blackouts, power outages, and supply shortages.
And despite the deaths of so many of their families and colleagues.
We lose perspective when we cannot report on events freely.
Misinformation circulates, fake news spreads, hatred between people builds. We need journalists to report on the situation in Gaza to bring the world back from the brink of further disaster.
But for them to do this, we need to stop the killing of civilians. Because journalists are civilians first.
And while no story is worth dying for, our colleagues in Gaza currently have little choice.
To our political leaders around the world, particularly those in Israel and across the region.
We appeal to you as members of the free press, on behalf of our colleagues caught in the midst of this catastrophe, too many of whom have lost their lives, to do everything in your power to stop the killing of journalists in Gaza.
* CPJ, as of 18 December
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