The IPI global network strongly condemns today’s killings of three Palestinian photojournalists by the Israeli military. IPI calls for an immediate and credible investigation and repeats its call on the international community to take concrete actions to hold Israel accountable for its targeted attacks against the press.
The journalists, Mohammed Salah Qashta, Abdul Raouf Shaat and Anas Ghneim, were reportedly traveling by car in the central Gaza Strip when they were struck by Israeli fire. According to local journalists, they were documenting a newly-established camp for displaced Palestinians on assignment for the Egyptian Relief Committee, which operates under the direction of the Egyptian president. One of the journalists killed was a freelancer who previously contributed to AFP.
In response to the killings, the Israeli military said they had targeted “suspects” operating a Hamas drone. Videos of the aftermath of the attack circulating online show a decimated vehicle bearing the Egyptian Relief Committee logo.
Today’s attacks, during which eight other Palestinians were killed, come more than three months after a ceasefire ending the conflict between Hamas and Israel that began on October 7, 2023 took hold. They also come hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted an invitation to join U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace,” which was originally intended to oversee the ceasefire.
Nearly 250 journalists have been killed over the course of the war, including 2025 World Press Freedom Hero Mariam Abu Dagga. The Israeli military has regularly engaged in attacks and killings of journalists throughout the course of the war, in some cases publicly acknowledging direct targeting of members of the press, often claiming they are terrorists working with Hamas, without citing credible evidence. The deliberate targeting of journalists amounts to a war crime.
Investigations into killings of journalists by members of the Israeli military during the conflict have not resulted in meaningful accountability for the individuals that carry out attacks, nor has international condemnation of Israel’s crimes against the press resulted in credible investigations or any discernable change to the government’s targeting of journalists.
“It is appalling to see the killing of journalists in Gaza continuing, even amid a fragile ceasefire,” said IPI Executive Director Scott Griffen. “Since the start of the war, the Israeli government has failed to credibly investigate attacks on journalists and the international community has failed to hold Israel to account for its pattern of targeting and killing journalists. It is long past time for the international community to take concrete steps to end the cycle of complete impunity for killings of journalists in Gaza.”