Washington:
A record number of journalists was killed all over the world last year, the committee said to protect journalists on Wednesday, adding that Israel was responsible for almost 70% of the dead.
At least 124 journalists in 18 countries died in 2024, the deadliest year for reporters and media employees since the committee started to register the figures more than three decades ago, the CPJ said in a statement.
CPJ said that the Israel-Gaza war has declared the death of 85 journalists by the Israeli army and has accused Israel of an attempt to suppress research into incidents, to blame journalists and to ignore his duty to keep people for explain the murders to explain the murders.
The Israeli army, when he was asked for comment, said that not enough information was provided about the alleged incidents and that it was therefore unable to check them, adding that it takes all operational measures to damage journalists and to reduce citizens.
“The IDF never has, and will never deliberately focus on journalists,” said it.
The number of journalists and media employees killed in 2024 has risen sharply in recent years – 102 was killed in 2023 and 69 were killed in 2022, according to CPJ. The previous record -high deaths were in 2007, when 113 journalists lost their lives, almost half because of the war in Iraq, the committee said.
Sudan and Pakistan had the second highest number of journalists killed last year, the committee said.
“Today is the most dangerous time to be a journalist in the history of CPJ,” said CEO Jodie Ginsberg in the statement.
“The war in Gaza is unprecedented in its impact on journalists and shows a great deterioration of the worldwide standards for protecting journalists in conflict zones, but it is far from the only place that journalists are in danger.”
CPJ said it had documented a “alarming increase in the number of targeted murders, and added that at least 24 journalists were deliberately killed because of their work last year, also in Haiti, Mexico, Myanmar, Sudan and elsewhere. It said it At least 10 cases of targeted murders had documented by Israel.
The committee said it is also investigating 20 other murders in which it believes that Israel is specifically aimed at journalists.
Israel promised to destroy Hamas for the attack of October 2023 in which 1,200 people were killed, most of them citizens and 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
According to the Palestinian health authorities, more than 48,000 people, mainly citizens, were killed in the retribution of Israel.
At least six journalists and media employees have been killed so far in 2025, the committee said.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)