WASHINGTON: A record 129 journalists and media workers were killed in the course of their work last year, two-thirds of them killed by Israel, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Wednesday.
It was the second straight year that press killings set a record and the second straight year that Israel was responsible for two-thirds of them, the CPJ, opens new tab, a New York-based independent organization which documents attacks on the press, said in its annual report, opens new tab.
Israeli fire killed 86 journalists in 2025, mostly Palestinians in Gaza but also including 31 workers in an attack on a Houthi media centre in Yemen, the second deadliest attack the CPJ has ever recorded, it said.
Israel was also responsible for 81 percent of the 47 killings that the CPJ classified as intentionally targeted, or “murder”. It said the actual figure was probably higher due to access restrictions that made verification difficult in Gaza. Israel’s military did not respond to a request for comment. It has said in the past that its troops in Gaza target only combatants, but that operating in combat zones carries inherent risks. Israel acknowledged targeting the media centre in Yemen in September, describing it at the time as a propaganda arm of the Houthis.
In several cases Israel has acknowledged targeting journalists in Gaza it said had links to Hamas, without providing verifiable evidence. International news organisations have strongly denied that slain reporters had links to militants. The CPJ called such allegations by Israel “deadly smears”. Agencies