Fatma Kanso, mother of slain Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah, mourns at his funeral in Al Khiyam, Lebanon, on October 14, 2023. (Reuters/Zohra Bensemra)
New York, October 17, 2023—The Israel-Gaza conflict has taken a severe toll on journalists since Hamas launched its unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7 and Israel declared war on the militant Palestinian group, launching strikes on the blockaded Gaza Strip.
CPJ is investigating all reports of journalists killed, injured, detained, or missing in the war, including those hurt as hostilities spread to neighboring Lebanon. As of October 17, at least 17 journalists were among the more than 4,000 dead on both sides since the war began on October 7.
Journalists in Gaza face particularly high risks as they try to cover the conflict in the face of a ground assault by Israeli troops, devastating Israeli airstrikes, disrupted communications, and extensive power outages. As of October 17:
- 17 journalists were confirmed dead: 13 Palestinian, 3 Israeli, and 1 Lebanese.
- 8 journalists were reported injured.
- 3 journalists were reported missing or detained.
CPJ is also investigating unconfirmed reports of other journalists being killed, missing, detained, hurt or threatened, and of damage to media offices and journalists’ homes.
“CPJ emphasizes that journalists are civilians doing important work during times of crisis and must not be targeted by warring parties,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “Journalists across the region are making great sacrifices to cover this heartbreaking conflict. All parties must take steps to ensure their safety.”
The list published here includes names based on information obtained from CPJ’s sources in the region and media reports. It is unclear whether all of the journalists were covering the conflict at the time of their deaths, but CPJ has included them in our count as we investigate their circumstances. The list is being updated on a regular basis.
Journalists reported killed, missing, injured or detained:
KILLED
October 17, 2023
Mohammad Balousha
Balousha, a journalist and the administrative and financial manager of the local media channel “Palestine Today” office in Gaza, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Saftawi neighborhood in northern Gaza, as reported by Anadolu Agency and The Guardian.
Issam Bhar
Bhar, a journalist for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip, according to TRT Arabia and the Cairo-based Arabic newspaper Shorouk News.
October 13, 2023
Salam Mema
The death of Mema, a freelance journalist, was confirmed on this date. Mema held the position of head of the Women Journalists Committee at the Palestinian Media Assembly, an organization committed to advancing media work for Palestinian journalists. Her body was recovered from the rubble three days after her home in the Jabalia camp, situated in the northern Gaza Strip, was struck by an Israeli airstrike on October 10, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate and the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, Wafa.
Husam Mubarak
Mubarak, a journalist for the Hamas-affiliated Al Aqsa Radio, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the Skeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.
Issam Abdallah
Abdallah, a Beirut-based videographer for the Reuters news agency, was killed during a shelling attack from the direction of Israel near the Lebanon border. Abdallah and a group of other journalists were covering the back-and-forth shelling near Al-Shaab in southern Lebanon between Israeli forces and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.
October 12, 2023
Ahmed Shehab
A journalist for Sowt Al-Asra Radio (Radio Voice of the Prisoners), Shehab, along with his wife and three children, was killed in an Israeli airstrike that struck his house in Jabalia, located in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and the London-based news website The New Arab.
October 11, 2023
Mohamed Fayez Abu Matar
Abu Matar, a freelance photojournalist, was killed during an Israeli airstrike in Rafah city, in the southern Gaza Strip, according to The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and to the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa.
October 9, 2023
Saeed al-Taweel
Al-Taweel, editor-in-chief of the Al-Khamsa News website, was killed when Israeli warplanes struck an area housing several media outlets in Rimal district in western Gaza, specifically targeting the Hiji building, according to the U.K.-based newspaper, The Independent, the Qatari-owned English-language news channel Al Jazeera English, and the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa.
Mohammed Sobh
Sobh, a photographer from “Khabar” News Agency, also was killed in the Rimal district air strike, according to the news reports.
Hisham Alnwajha
Alnwajha, a journalist at the “Khabar” news agency, also was reported killed in the same bombing that took the lives of Al-Taweel and Sobh.
October 8, 2023
Assaad Shamlakh
Shamlakh, a freelance journalist, was killed along with nine members of his family in an Israeli airstrike on their home in Sheikh Ijlin, a neighborhood in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Beirut-based nonprofit research and advocacy organization, The Legal Agenda (LA), and BBC Arabic.
October 7, 2023
Shai Regev
Regev, who served as an editor for TMI, the gossip and entertainment news section of the Hebrew-language daily newspaper Ma’ariv, was killed during a Hamas attack on Israel. The confirmation of Shai Regev’s death came after she was reported missing for six days, with the announcement made to her family, as reported by Maariv and The Times of Israel.
Ayelet Arnin
A 22-year-old news editor with the Israel Broadcasting Corporation Kan, Arnin was killed during a Hamas attack in the south of Israel. Her killing was reported to her parents by a friend, according to The Times of Israel and Yahoo.
Yaniv Zohar
Zohar, an Israeli photographer working for the Israeli Hebrew-language daily newspaper Israel Hayom, was killed during a Hamas attack on Kibbutz Nahal Oz in southern Israel. Israel Hayom and Israel National News reported that his wife and two daughters also died in the attack. Israel Hayom editor-in-chief Omer Lachmanovitch told CPJ that Yaniv was working on that day.
Mohammad Al-Salhi
Al-Salhi, a photojournalist working for the Fourth Authority news agency, was shot dead near a Palestinian refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa, and the Journalist Support Committee (JSC), a nonprofit which promotes the rights of the media in the Middle East.
Mohammad Jarghoun
Mohammad Jarghoun, a journalist with Smart Media, was shot while reporting on the conflict in an area to the east of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian press freedom group MADA and the JSC.
Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi
Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi, a photographer for Ain Media, was shot and killed at the Gaza Strip’s Erez Crossing into Israel, according to MADA and JSC.
CPJ safety advisories
As we continue to monitor the war in Israel/Gaza, journalists who have questions about their safety and security can contact us emergencies@cpj.org.
For more information, read:
- Physical Safety: War Reporting
- Physical and digital safety: Civil Disorder
- Psychological Safety
- Physical and digital safety: Arrest and detention
These are available in multiple languages, including Arabic.
INJURED
October 13, 2023
Thaer Al-Sudani
Al-Sudani, a journalist for Reuters, was injured in the same attack that killed Abdallah near the border in southern Lebanon, Reuters said.
Maher Nazeh
Nazeh, a journalist for Reuters, was also injured in the same southern Lebanon attack.
Elie Brakhya
Brakhya, an Al-Jazeera TV staff member, was injured as well in the southern Lebanon shelling, Al-Jazeera TV said.
Carmen Joukhadar
Joukhadar, an Al-Jazeera TV reporter, was also wounded in the southern Lebanon attack.
Christina Assi
Assi, a photographer for the French news agency Agence France-Press (AFP), was injured in that same attack on southern Lebanon, according to AFP and France 24.
Dylan Collins
Dylan Collins, a video journalist for AFP, was also injured in the southern Lebanon shelling.
October 7, 2023
Ibrahim Qanan
Qanan, a correspondent for Al-Ghad channel, was injured by shrapnel in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, according to MADA and JSC.
Firas Lutfi
Police assaulted Lufti, a correspondent with privately owned Sky News Arabia, along with other Sky News journalists in the southern city of Ashkelon, according to members of the television crew. Lutfi said Israeli police aimed rifles at his head, forced him to remove his clothes, confiscated the team’s phones, and made them leave the area under police escort.
DETAINED/MISSING
October 7, 2023
Nidal Al-Wahidi
Palestinian photographer from the Al-Najah channel was reported missing by MADA. Later, Al-Wahidi’s family informed the media that the journalist had been detained by the Israeli army.
Haitham Abdelwahid
Palestinian photographer from the Ain Media agency was also reported missing by MADA.
Roee Idan
The Israeli Ynet photographer, whose wife was killed, was reported missing and his family fears he was taken hostage along with his 3-year-old daughter. CPJ confirmed that he was working on the day his family was attacked.
Editor’s note: CPJ’s database of journalists killed in connection with their work does not not yet reflect these casualties as we continue to investigate circumstances surrounding them.