99 journalists killed in 2023, 77 of them in Gaza war

(Patria) - 77 of the 99 journalists killed in 2023 were killed in the war between Israel and Hamas, making the past 12 months the deadliest for the media in nearly a decade, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said, AFP reported.

Journalist killings would have declined globally year-on-year had it not been for the deaths in that conflict, the CPJ said, although deaths in Somalia and the Philippines are at the same level.

This is the highest number since 2015 and an increase of nearly 44 percent compared to 2022.

"In December 2023, the CPJ reported that more journalists were killed in the first three months of the war between Israel and Gaza than had ever been killed in a single country in an entire year," the CPJ said.

The vast majority of the 77 journalists killed in the Israel-Hamas conflict, 72 of them, were Palestinians, the organization said. Three Lebanese and two Israelis were also killed.

"Journalists in Gaza are witnessing on the front lines," said CPJ Executive Director Jodie
Ginsberg.

"The enormous loss that Palestinian journalists have suffered in this war will have long-term
consequences for journalism not only in the Palestinian territories but also in the region and beyond. Every journalist killed is a further blow to our understanding of the world."

The New York-based media freedom organization said on February 7 that the number of journalists killed in the Gaza conflict had risen to 85.

The CPJ has previously attacked what it calls the "persecution" of journalists by Israeli forces and is investigating whether a dozen journalists killed in the Gaza conflict were deliberately targeted by Israeli soldiers, which would constitute a "war crime."

The largest decrease in journalist deaths was recorded in Ukraine and Mexico, where it fell from thirteen killings to two.

One of those killed in Ukraine was AFP journalist Arman Soldin. Soldin (32) died when his reporting team came under fire near the city of Bakhmut in the east of the country. The CPJ warned that Mexico, along with the Philippines and Somalia, is "one of the deadliest countries in the world for the press."