According to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), 2024 has been particularly deadly, especially in the Gaza Strip, as reported in a tally published on Tuesday, December 9, in Brussels.
After 129 deaths counted in 2023, “2024 is one of the worst years,” warns Anthony Bellanger, the Secretary-General of the IFJ, based in Brussels, as reported by AFP.
This official denounces “the massacre happening before the eyes of the entire world in Palestine.”
According to the IFJ, 55 Palestinian media professionals were killed in 2024.
“Since the start of the war on October 7, 2023, at least 138 Palestinian journalists have been killed,” making this territory “one of the most dangerous in the history of modern journalism, behind Iraq, the Philippines, and Mexico,” the International Federation of Journalists stated, as cited by the French Press Agency.
“Many journalists are deliberately targeted there,” claims Anthony Bellanger, although there are also “acts of war, people who find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
After the Middle East, the second most dangerous area for journalists is Asia-Pacific, with 20 deaths, including 6 assassinations in Pakistan, 5 in Bangladesh, and 3 in India.
In Europe, “the war in Ukraine has claimed more victims on the continent, with 4 journalists killed in 2024, compared to 13 in 2022 and 4 in 2023.”
The IFJ also reports 520 journalists imprisoned worldwide, a sharp increase from 2023 (427) and 2022 (375).
