Palestinians mourn local journalists Hassouna Sleem and Sary Mansour who were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the central Gaza Strip.    (File by Reuters)

New York, November 12 (RHC)-- The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says Israel’s genocidal campaign across the besieged Gaza Strip has killed more journalists in a span of one year than any other conflict in recent decades.

The U.S.-based group monitoring human rights violations against journalists worldwide said in a recent statement that Israeli forces killed at least five journalists across Gaza in less than a week.

“With the martyrdom of the five journalists, the number of Palestinian journalists killed by the fire of the occupation army has risen to 189 since October 7, 2023.“

The organization says Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has become “the bloodiest for journalists” since the committee began documenting journalist killings worldwide in 1992.  “The continued targeting of journalists in Gaza represents a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and human rights.” 

The CJP underscored the “deliberate” and “premeditated” nature of the Israeli military’s escalation of the killing of journalists.  “The international community and its relevant organizations are required to intervene urgently and work to prosecute the instigators and those involved in Israeli crimes against journalists before international courts.”

The CPJ is also investigating a further 130 cases of suspected killings, abductions, or injuries of journalists.

Reporters Without Borders tallied 63 journalists who died over a 20-year period ending in 1975 while covering the Vietnam War.

Experts of the United Nations have already warned about “the extraordinarily high numbers of journalists and media workers who have been killed, attacked, injured and detained in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”