Gaza’s Deadly Blackout: Journalists Targeted, Stories Buried

Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC) has issued a strong condemnation of the killing of several Palestinian journalists and their families in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, May 18,

describing the attacks as a chilling escalation in Israel’s ongoing military offensive, now entering a new and more brutal phase known as “Gideon’s Chariots.”

The organization warned that this phase reflects a deliberate intensification of violence characterized by mass killings, forced displacement, the obliteration of civilian infrastructure, and a calculated campaign of terror against journalists and their families. WJWC emphasized that these developments are indicative of an increasingly genocidal strategy aimed at erasing both Palestinian life and narrative.

According to WJWC, five Palestinian journalists were killed in recent days alongside their families in what the organization denounced as systematic and intentional assassinations. These killings, it said, are not isolated incidents but part of a broader campaign to silence the press and obstruct documentation of the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza.

Among those killed was journalist Nour Qandil, who died in a targeted airstrike on her home in Deir al-Balah, along with her husband Khaled Abu Saif and their child. In al-Qarara, northeast of Khan Younis, journalists Abdul Rahman Tawfiq al-Abadleh and Yazan Joudat al-Ibadah were also killed in similar attacks.

In northern Gaza, Israeli forces bombed the residence of journalist Aziz al-Hajjar, killing his wife and children. Meanwhile, in Sanabel Camp, west of Khan Younis near the Kuwaiti Field Hospital, a tent sheltering displaced journalist Ahmed al-Zainati and his family was shelled. Al-Zainati, his wife Nour al-Madhoun, and their two sons, Mohammed and Khaled, were all killed.

WJWC asserted that these killings constitute a targeted and systematic effort to eliminate journalists and their families as part of a broader campaign of ethnic cleansing and media censorship.

“The murder of journalists alongside their families is not collateral damage—it is a direct assault on truth-tellers,” the organization stated. “This calculated campaign aims to extinguish every voice documenting the reality of genocide in Gaza.”

WJWC reported that the total number of journalists killed in Gaza since the war began has now reached 222, surpassing journalist fatalities in some of the bloodiest conflicts of the 20th century, including World War II and the Vietnam War.

The organization held the Israeli government fully responsible for these crimes, stating that the attacks on journalists, civilians, and civil infrastructure—combined with the ongoing blockade of humanitarian aid—are part of an orchestrated policy of collective punishment and mass extermination.

WJWC reminded the international community that under international humanitarian law, including the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions (1977) and Article 8 of the International Convention on the Safety of Journalists, media professionals are afforded the same protections as civilians during armed conflict. Unless actively engaged in combat, targeting journalists constitutes a grave breach of the laws of war and a prosecutable war crime.

The organization recalled its October 2024 report, “A Year of Tragedy: One Journalist Killed Every Two Days in Gaza,” published on the one-year anniversary of the war. In that report, WJWC Head and Nobel Peace Laureate Tawakkol Karman warned:

“It is terrifying that a journalist can be murdered and their entire family annihilated simply for fulfilling their professional duty. These are not accidents. These are systematic operations, meticulously planned to silence free voices and suppress the truth.” 

WJWC reiterated its urgent call for international intervention to halt the genocide in Gaza. It urged the United Nations, international human rights bodies, and governments around the world to fulfill their legal and moral obligations by protecting civilians, defending press freedom, and ensuring accountability for war crimes.

“Without justice,” the organization concluded, “there can be no peace, no dignity, and no future for the people of Gaza. The world must act—immediately and decisively.”