Assassinations of journalists and mediacide in Gaza: Call to mobilization

On 10 August 2025, Anas al-Sharif (pictured), a renowned journalist from the Al Jazeera channel, was assassinated by an Israeli airstrike in front of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Aged 28, he was one of six journalists and media workers killed while in a press tent, after a day of reporting on the intensification of the bombings. This act was claimed by the Israeli army and aims to silence the voice of Palestinian journalists.

This assassination is part of a broader context in which, since the beginning of the war in Gaza in October 2023, at least 212 Palestinian journalists, according to the count of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), have lost their lives — making this conflict the deadliest massacre in the modern history of journalism. In many cases, these Palestinian journalists were killed while covering the conflict, often wearing vests clearly marked “PRESS.” Attacks against reporters illustrate a deliberate strategy by the Israeli government to silence independent information, prevent the documentation of crimes, and instill terror in journalistic work. These are not “collateral damages,” but a deliberate attack on press freedom and the fundamental right to bear witness to atrocities.

The Israeli government, dominated by a supremacist and militarist far right, bears the moral and political responsibility for these assassinations. The repression against the press in Gaza cannot be excused or minimized under alleged imperatives of national security or the fight against terrorism. These are journalists, civilians, deliberately targeted and erased from history, in an attempt to deprive the world of their testimonies and images. It is crucial to recall that the international press has been banned from accessing Gaza since the beginning of hostilities, forcing foreign media to rely exclusively on local testimonies and images provided by Gazan journalists, civilians, and humanitarian workers on the ground. Meanwhile, only a few carefully selected correspondents operate under strict military censorship and close supervision by the Israeli army, marking a serious violation of press freedom in the Palestinian territory under military occupation.

In the face of this tragedy, Belgian and international journalists must organize a solidarity mobilization in Brussels. A public reading of the names of all journalists killed in Gaza will pay tribute to their courage, denounce their assassinations without ambiguity, and call for justice. It will take place on Tuesday, 26 August, at 11:30 am, at Mont des Arts in Brussels. This event will be an opportunity to affirm that silence, fear, and censorship will not triumph over journalists’ commitment to truth and memory. Today, several journalists’ organizations — AJP, VVJ, EFJ, IFJ, SDJ-RTBF, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and API — join forces to express solidarity with Palestinian journalists and condemn the assassinations committed by the Israeli government. No to impunity. The free press will not be silenced. This struggle goes beyond Gaza: it concerns all defenders of democracy worldwide.

Join on 26 August at 11:30 am, at Mont des Arts in Brussels.

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