Israel Kills 29 Palestinian Journalists in Gaza, Causing 43% of Global Journalist Deaths in 2025, RSF Finds

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) found that 67 journalists were killed worldwide in the 12 months it tracked, and that Israeli forces were responsible for roughly 43% of those deaths, killing 29 Palestinian reporters in Gaza and making Israel the deadliest country for journalists in 2025.

“Nearly half of the journalists killed globally this year were by Israeli forces in Gaza”

Al Jazeera

RSF recorded nearly 220 journalist deaths since the Gaza war began in October 2023, a figure repeated across multiple outlets that places Gaza at the center of the global toll and frames Israel as a primary killer of journalists in RSF's assessment.

Al Jazeera

RSF's totals and characterization, including calling Israel the biggest killer of journalists for three years, were widely reported and quoted verbatim by international media covering the report.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and multiple news outlets identified a single deadliest incident: an August 25 double‑tap strike on a southern Gaza hospital.

The strike killed five journalists, including contributors to Reuters and the Associated Press, and, according to Al Jazeera, photographer Mohammad Salama.

Al-Jazeera Net

Reports consistently describe the attack as a 'double‑tap' that hit medics, patients and media workers.

Outlets cited RSF’s identification of that strike as the single deadliest event for journalists in the period.

Reporters Without Borders and multiple outlets report that Gaza has become largely closed to foreign correspondents.

“Reporters Without Borders (RSF) issued a stark warning Tuesday, releasing a sweeping annual assessment that shows 2025 has become a catastrophic year for media safety, with Israel’s military responsible for nearly half of all journalists killed worldwide”

Daily Sabah

Israel is keeping most foreign reporters out and allowing only tightly controlled military tours.

Local Palestinian journalists face killings and detentions, turning Gaza into what some sources call a black hole for information.

RSF and other sources document systemic detention and arrests of Palestinian journalists and warn that foreign reporting is severely constrained, limiting independent verification of events on the ground.

RSF placed the Gaza toll in a wider global context: 67 journalists killed worldwide in 2025, a slight rise from 66 in 2024 but still below the 2012 peak of 142 and under the long-term average of about 80 per year.

The report records 503 journalists detained across 47 countries, with China, Russia and Myanmar holding the largest numbers.

dw

Mexico, driven by organised-crime violence, was the second-deadliest country in 2025, and Latin America accounted for a significant share of targeted assassinations, showing that threats to reporters extend beyond war zones into criminal and repressive state contexts.

Coverage differs in attribution and rhetoric: RSF’s language and some outlets quote RSF calling Israeli forces 'the worst enemy of journalists' and urge accountability, while other outlets note Israel’s denial that it intentionally targets journalists.

“Israel accounted for almost half of the world’s journalist deaths this year, Reporters Without Borders warned Tuesday, with 29 Palestinian reporters killed in Gaza as the global toll increased to 67”

France 24

West Asian and alternative outlets stress systemic targeting and report higher local tallies, such as Gaza authorities’ counts or monitoring sites that give larger figures.

France 24

Western mainstream reporting tends to present RSF numbers alongside Israel's denials.

These differences shape whether readers see journalist deaths as part of state policy, battlefield collateral, or criminal targeting.