Journalist casualties in the Israel-Gaza conflict

CPJ is investigating all reports of journalists killed, injured, detained or missing in the war, including those hurt as hostilities spread to neighboring Lebanon. In the first seven days of fighting, at least 11 journalists were killed, two were missing and two injured. In the same period, the conflict claimed more than 3,000 lives on both sides and resulted in many thousands of injuries.

Journalists in Gaza face particularly high risks as they try to cover the conflict in the face of a ground assault by Israeli troops, devastating Israeli airstrikes, disrupted communications, and extensive power outages. In the first seven days of the conflict, nine Palestinian journalists have been confirmed dead; one Israeli journalist has been confirmed killed and one reported missing. On October 13, a Beirut-based journalist was killed during a shelling attack in southern Lebanon.

“CPJ emphasizes that journalists are civilians doing important work during times of crisis and must not be targeted by warring parties,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “Journalists are making great sacrifices across the region covering this important conflict. Measures to ensure their safety must be taken by all parties to stop this deadly and heavy toll.”

The list published here includes names based on information obtained from CPJ’s sources in the region and media reports. It is being updated on a regular basis.

October 13, 2023

Abdallah, a Beirut-based videographer for the Reuters news agency, was killed during a shelling attack near the Lebanon border. Abdallah and a group of other journalists were covering the back-and-forth shelling near Al-Shaab in southern Lebanon between Israeli forces and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.

October 12, 2023

A journalist for Sowt Al-Asra Radio (Radio Voice of the Prisoners), Shehab, along with his wife and three children, was killed in an Israeli airstrike that struck his house in Jabalia, located in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and the London-based news website The New Arab.

October 11, 2023

Abu Matar, a freelance photojournalist, was killed during an Israeli airstrike in Rafah city, in the southern Gaza Strip, according to The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and to the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa.

October 9, 2023

KILLED

Saeed al-Taweel

Al-Taweel, editor-in-chief of the Al-Khamsa News website, was killed when Israeli warplanes struck an area housing several media outlets in Rimal district in western Gaza, specifically targeting the Hiji building, according to the U.K.-based newspaper, The Independent, the Qatari-owned English-language news channel Al Jazeera English, and the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa.

Mohammed Sobh

Sobh, a photographer from “Khabar” News Agency, also was killed in the Rimal district air strike, according to the news reports.

Hisham Alnwajha

Alnwajha, a journalist at the “Khabar” news agency, also was reported killed in the same bombing that took the lives of Al-Taweel and Sobh.

October 8, 2023

KILLED

Assaad Shamlakh

Shamlakh, a freelance journalist, was killed along with nine members of his family in an Israeli airstrike on their home in Sheikh Ijlin, a neighborhood in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Beirut-based nonprofit research and advocacy organization, The Legal Agenda (LA), and BBC Arabic.

October 7, 2023

KILLED

Mohammad Al-Salhi

Al-Salhi, a photojournalist working for the Fourth Authority news agency, was shot dead near a Palestinian refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa, and the Journalist Support Committee (JSC), a nonprofit which promotes the rights of the media in the Middle East.

Mohammad Jarghoun

Mohammad Jarghoun, a journalist with Smart Media, was shot while reporting on the conflict in an area to the east of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian press freedom group MADA and the JSC.

Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi

Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi, a photographer for Ain Media, was shot and killed at the Gaza Strip’s Erez Crossing into Israel,according to MADA and JSC.

DETAINED

Nidal Al-Wahidi

Palestinian photographer from the Al-Najah channel was reported missing by MADA. Later, Al-Wahidi’s family informed the media that the journalist had been detained by the Israeli army.

MISSING

Haitham Abdelwahid

Palestinian photographer from the Ain Media agency was also reported missing by MADA.

INJURED

Ibrahim Qanan

Qanan, a correspondent for Al-Ghad channel, was injured by shrapnel in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, according to MADA and JSC.

Firas Lutfi

Police assaulted Lufti, a correspondent with privately owned Sky News Arabia, along with other Sky News journalists in the southern city of Ashkelon, according to members of the television crew. Lutfi said Israeli police aimed rifles at his head, forced him to remove his clothes, confiscated the team’s phones, and made them leave the area under police escort.