Members of the International Press Institute (IPI) global Executive Board, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa, today issued a joint statement calling on Israel to halt the killing of journalists in Gaza following the deaths of at least 80 reporters and media workers in Israeli airstrikes. Israel must respect the rules of war, credibly investigate any killings of journalists by its forces, and allow international journalists access to Gaza.

The undersigned members of the International Press Institute (IPI) Executive Board condemn in the strongest possible terms the unabated killing of journalists in Israeli airstrikes since the start of the Israel-Gaza war.

We – leading editors, journalists, and publishers from 20 countries around the globe – are united in horror over this unprecedented attack on journalist safety and press freedom. At least 80 journalists have now been killed in Gaza and southern Lebanon since October. This is the largest number of journalists killed in such a short span of time in a conflict zone since IPI was founded in 1950.

We are raising our collective voice – which we reserve for the gravest of circumstances – to protest this unbearable loss of life and to demand an immediate end to the bombardment of journalists and apparent targeting in some cases of our colleagues in Gaza and the region.

We call on Israel to respect the rules of war, which oblige states to protect journalists and civilians in times of armed conflict. We also call on the Israeli authorities to transparently and credibly investigate all instances of the killing of journalists by its forces. We underscore that deliberately targeting journalists is a war crime, and IPI will work with our partners to pursue accountability before a court of law for those who do so. We also call on Israel to immediately grant international journalists access to Gaza and allow them to report freely and independently.

We also urgently call on Israel’s international allies to take immediate and concrete action to protect the rights of journalists to cover this war freely and safely. They must place real and effective pressure on the Israeli authorities to end the killing of journalists and their families in Gaza.

As deep as our horror is our respect and admiration for our colleagues still on the ground in Gaza, risking their lives in unimaginable circumstances to be the world’s eyes and ears. They have our solidarity, and we stand with them.

This unprecedented assault on journalists and journalism must end. No further time, and no further lives, can be lost.

Signed:

Khadija Patel, Executive Board Chair; Journalist-in-Residence, International Fund for Public Interest Media, South Africa
Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; Journalist, Author, CEO, Rappler, Philippines
Zaffar Abbas, Editor, Dawn, Pakistan
Raheem Adedoyin, Chairman, Editorial Board, Herald Newspapers, Nigeria
Juno Bang, Executive Vice President, The Chosun Daily Newspaper, South Korea
Walid Batrawi, Media and communications expert, Palestine
John Daniszewski, Vice President, Standards, Editor at Large The Associated Press, USA
Barkha Dutt, Founder-Editor, Mojo Story, India
Borja Echevarría, Managing Editor, El País, Spain
Márton Gergely, Editor-in-Chief, HVG, Hungary
Stephen Gitagama, Group CEO, Nation Media Group, Kenya
Etaf Roudan, Radio Al Balad Manager, Community Media Network – CMN, Jordan
David Jordan, Director, Editorial Policy, BBC, UK
Emre Kızılkaya, Project editor, Journo.com.tr, Turkey
Amelia Newcomb, Managing Editor, The Christian Science Monitor, USA
Esther Ng Sek Yee, Chief Content Officer, Star Media Group, Malaysia
Kaius Niemi, Former Senior Editor-in-Chief, Helsingin Sanomat, Sanoma Media, Finland
Wolfgang Krach, Editor-in-Chief, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany
Laura Saarikoski, Editor-in-Chief, Premium, Helsingin Sanomat, Finland
Bjørn Sæbø, Editor-in-Chief, Rogalands Avis, Norway
Daryna Shevchenko, CEO, Kyiv Independent, Ukraine
Hiroki Sugita, Columnist and Associate Executive Director, Kyodo News, Japan

About IPI:

The International Press Institute (IPI) is a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists. For nearly 75 years, we have defended media freedom and the free flow of news wherever they are threatened. IPI was founded in 1950 in the aftermath of the Second World War in the belief that a free media would contribute to a better and more peaceful world.