Palestinians mourn local journalists Hassouna Sleem and Sary Mansour killed in an Israeli strike on a hospital in the central Gaza Strip on November 19, 2023.         (Photo by Reuters)

Geneva, April 17 (RHC)-- Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, has urged journalists across the world to follow the example of French journalist organizations and express their support for their Palestinian colleagues who are subjected to Israeli savagery in Gaza.

Earlier this week, French journalist organizations condemned the Israeli killing of Palestinian journalists in Gaza, as international journalist defense organizations said about 200 Palestinian media professionals have been killed since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza in 2023.

Albanese welcomed the letter, but “what it takes for other journalists to stand against the slaughtering of their colleagues.”  In a letter published by Le Monde on April 14, the French journalist organizations said the Palestinian journalists were “deliberately targeted by the Israeli army.”

They also slammed the media blackout imposed by Israel on Gaza “to silence, as much as possible, the witnesses of the war crimes committed by its troops, as an increasing number of international NGOs and UN bodies label them as genocidal acts.”

“This intention to obstruct information is also reflected in the Israeli government's refusal to allow foreign press access to the Gaza Strip.”

Israel launched the campaign of genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023. It has killed at least 51,025 Palestinians and injured 116,432 others there so far.

On March 18, the regime resumed its relentless bombing of Gaza, breaking a ceasefire deal reached in January.

[ SOURCE: REUTERS and NEWS AGENCIES ]