On World Press Freedom Day, ARTICLE 19 reiterates what is clear in international law, yet has been continuously undermined: journalists are not a target. We highlight in particular that Israel has repeatedly violated this principle both before and since October 2023. We call for an end to the impunity for these attacks on journalists, which amount to silencing in its most violent form.
Journalists must be free and safe to report the situation on the ground in conflict settings – in Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, the Gulf States, Sudan, and Ukraine – to local, regional, and international audiences; to document atrocities and violations of international law; and to narrate their experiences. In situations of conflict and violence, states must protect – not undermine – the free flow of information.
The theme of this year’s World Press Freedom Day, ‘Shaping a Future at Peace’, points to the key role freedom of expression must play in building a safer world, one that is grounded in the physical and functional protection of journalists and press freedom under international human rights and international humanitarian law, and the free flow of information.
In 2025, we saw the achievement of a grim milestone: figures from the Committee to Protect Journalists show that it was a record-breaking year for journalist deaths. Over three-quarters of all 129 press deaths in 2025 were in conflict settings, with the conditions for journalists in Ukraine and Sudan being particularly dangerous. Israel, however, remains an exception, and is responsible for two-thirds of journalist killings in both 2024 and 2025.
As the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continue attacks in Lebanon and Palestine, and following the start of Israel and the United States’ war in Iran, journalists across the region routinely face violence, attacks, arrests, intimidation, and killing, alongside other efforts to close the information space. Efforts to maintain narrative control are also apparent in governments’ use of cybercrime and national security laws to arrest civilians filming or sharing videos of the war in Iran, which shrinks civic space and prevents the sharing of information that can be lifesaving.
Safety of journalists in Palestine and Lebanon at an all-time low
Israel’s most recent attacks on Palestinian and Lebanese journalists – like the hundreds carried out by the IDF since October 2023 – have been met with impunity. On 23 April Israeli forces reportedly killed Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil and seriously wounded photojournalist Zeinab Faraj.
This follows the earlier April killings of Gazan journalist Mohammed Samir Washah and Lebanese journalists Ghada Dayekh and Suzan Khalil, and the 28 March killing of three Lebanese journalists: Ali Shoeib, Fatima Ftouni, and Mohamed Ftouni. Khalil, Shoeib, Fatima Ftouni, and Mohamed Ftouni were all killed in double-tap strikes, preventing rescue teams from reaching them. We have reiterated this repeatedly since 7 October 2023: journalists are civilians and targeting them is a war crime.
Israel has made repeated and unfounded claims that Palestinian and Lebanese journalists are members of militant groups, in some cases making public statements about specific journalists’ alleged ‘affiliations’ before targeting them. A joint investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call reported on the ‘legitimisation cell‘, a specialised unit in the IDF partially tasked with ‘identify[ing] Gaza-based journalists it could portray as undercover Hamas operatives’.
Labelling and portraying journalists as members of armed groups serves both to undermine journalists’ work and the non-derogable protection that journalists are afforded under the Geneva Conventions. This only worsens the culture of impunity that Israel has enjoyed for violence committed against journalists and media workers in Palestine.
Closing information space in Iran and Gulf States
Following the violent repression of mass protests that began in Iran in December 2025 – which included the killing of an estimated 36,500 Iranians and a complete communications blackout – and the unlawful military intervention of Israel and the United States in Iran on 28 February, civic space in Iran and across the MENA region has continued to shrink at a time when information is lifesaving. Across the region, journalists and ordinary social media users face arrest and threats of harsh sentencing for reporting on the conflict, often under the guise of protecting national security.
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have used the country’s cybercrime law to arrest more than 100 civilians who shared content online related to the war in Iran. In Bahrain, journalist Sayed Baqer Al-Kamel was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment after he posted a video showing a high-rise building on fire for ‘promoting content deemed supportive of Iran during the war with Bahrain, filming and sharing images of sensitive infrastructure during a conflict, and unlawfully publishing defence-related material’.
In Kuwait, journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin was arrested on 3 March after he posted publicly available videos and photographs documenting the war in Iran. Authorities accused him of spreading false information and endangering national security, and he was acquitted and released on 23 April after journalists’ organisations and campaign groups repeatedly highlighted his case.
International community must act
As we mark World Press Freedom Day, we urge the international community to hold Israel accountable and to take decisive action to protect journalists who are operating under unimaginable risk every day. We call for international accountability mechanisms to prioritise investigations into the deliberate targeting and killing of journalists during conflict. Israeli authorities must immediately cease the targeting of journalists and media workers and fully respect international humanitarian law.
We also stress the importance of improving – rather than restricting – the flow of information during armed conflict. Using broad cybercrime or national security provisions as justification for censorship impedes journalists’ ability to gather and share reliable information, resulting in an information vacuum that is easily filled with propaganda or misinformation. Press freedom is especially vital during conflict and is crucial for people in situations of extreme risk and precarity to access information that can help them protect themselves and their communities.
Protecting the right to freedom of expression, press freedom, and the safety of journalists ensures peace and safety is not understood as zero-sum, but as a condition where the right to seek and receive information is exercised equally, without reprisal or fear of it.