On 23 October, the IDF published a text on X stating that six Gazan journalists working for the Qatari media network Al Jazeera are accomplices of terrorism. The Israeli military claimed that they had evidence of the military affiliation of the journalists to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and that these reporters were “spearheading the propaganda for Hamas at Al Jazeera.

The IFJ recalls that the Israeli accusations violate UN Security Council Resolutions 2222/2015 and 1738/2006, which condemn international attacks against journalists and media workers in situations of armed conflict. In August 2023, the Federation urges the Israeli government to cease its strategy of criminalising journalists in Gaza by voicing unproven accusations against them.

FJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: “These allegations put the lives of our six colleagues in serious danger and make media professionals a target of attacks. We strongly condemn unproven allegations by the IDF, which are even more disturbing given the terrible number of journalists in Gaza that have already been killed, and the widespread belief among media workers that they are being targeted. We reiterate that international technology platforms that publish these allegations and hateful messages must take appropriate measures to remove it”..

On 7 October, in the southern Gaza Strip, correspondent for Al-Ghad TV channel, Ibrahim Qanan, was injured in the leg by a missile strike targeted at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis city. In a similar incident, PJS reported that journalist Salah Abu Salah was wounded by a missile's shrapnel at Abasan city.

In Gaza city, Israeli shelling injured journalist Saleh Al-Masry and his wife, and destroyed the houses of director of Zaman radio, Rami Al-Sharafi, and journalist Basil Khair Al-Din, working for TV station Al-Quds Today, reads PJS statement.