150 media outlets denounce Israel's killing of journalists in Gaza

More than 150 media outlets from around 50 countries are taking part in an initiative denouncing the killing of journalists by Israel in Gaza, at the call of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the NGO Avaaz, AFP news agency has reported. 

As part of the initiative, black banners were printed on the front pages of newspapers and website homepages. 

Front pages of dailies L’Humanité in France, Público in Portugal, and La Libre in Belgium, published messages on the front pages that read: “At the rate journalists are being killed in Gaza by the Israeli army, soon there will be no one left to inform you". 

The campaign comes one week after Israeli strikes killed five journalists at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

“These organisations and newsrooms denounce the crimes perpetrated by the Israeli army against Palestinian reporters with total impunity, call for their protection and urgent evacuation, and demand independent access for the international press to the Palestinian enclave,” RSF said in a statement.

The press freedom watchdog said it has filed four complaints with the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes committed by the Israeli army against journalists in the Gaza Strip over the past 22 months.

Since the beginning of the war, the international press has not been allowed to work freely inside the Palestinian territory. Only a handful of outlets, carefully selected, have been able to enter embedded with the Israeli army, with their reporting subject to strict military censorship.

RSF has said that more than 210 journalists have been killed since the beginning of Israel’s offensive in Gaza. 

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 63,459 people in Gaza.