Since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, destruction and devastation in Gaza have been widespread. So has death: 45,000 people have been killed in this conflict, including more than 300 aid workers and more than 1,000 medical professionals, according to tallies by the United Nations.
It has also been especially deadly for the people documenting it.
At least 160 journalists, translators, fixers, and others who help with newsgathering have been killed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. It has been the deadliest period for reporters since the organization began keeping track in 1992, and the vast majority of those killed have been Palestinian.
“It’s been journalists and even their families,” said former American diplomat Hala Rharrit. “And it has appeared to practically be systematic targeting of journalists to silence the truth that’s been coming out.”
Rharrit spent nearly two decades at the State Department with postings in Asia, Africa and the Middle East before quitting last spring in protest over America’s role in the war in Gaza. Before resigning, she was stationed in Dubai where part of her job was to communicate U.S. policy to the Arab press and monitor media reports about the war. She told 60 Minutes she included deaths of journalists in reports she sent to senior leadership in Washington.
She told 60 Minutes that, a few months after the conflict began, she proposed a statement to come out from the White House against the deaths of journalists.
“I was told, ‘No, we can’t do that. It’s too controversial.’ I said, ‘What’s controversial? Calling for the protection of journalists? This is an American value,'” Rharrit recalled.
In December 2023, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller wrote a statement on X saying in part, “We stand unequivocally for the protection of journalists and a free and independent press.”
Five months later, President Joe Biden released his own statement, saying that in Gaza, “far too many journalists, the vast majority of them Palestinian, have been killed.” The statement went on to call for “the protection of journalists everywhere, including during military operations.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have denied the charges that Israel has singled out reporters, telling 60 Minutes in a statement: “The IDF directs its strikes only towards military targets and military operatives, and does not target civilian objects and civilians, including media organizations and journalists as such.”
Israel’s military went on to contend that “terror operatives” in Gaza have doubled as journalists and might therefore become “legitimate military targets,” including some who work for Al Jazeera. The Qatari network has strongly denied this allegation.
CBS News is not able to verify claims on either side. Israel has prevented international media from entering and working independently in Gaza since the start of the war. As a result, Palestinian journalists left to cover the ongoing conflict have had to work while dealing with its effects, including hunger, displacement, and the constant threat of injury or death from ongoing airstrikes.
Without a ceasefire, those who are reporting on the ground continue to do so at a great risk. Just Friday, Reuters reports a Palestinian journalist was shot and killed by Israeli forces while covering a scene at a refugee camp in Gaza.
The video above was produced by Brit McCandless Farmer and edited by Scott Rosann.
