Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory / Middle East & North Africa

Nazareth, Israel, July 9, 2025—Israel’s 12-day war with Iran provided Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government with an opportunity to step up its assault on the press — a trend that has since continued apace. “Media freedom is often a casualty of war, and Israel’s recent war with Iran is no exception. We have seen Israeli…

Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, July 1, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an Israeli airstrike on Al-Baqa Café, a beachfront venue in western Gaza City, which killed 34-year-old Palestinian filmmaker and photojournalist Ismail Abu Hatab and injured freelance journalist Bayan Abusultan on Monday, according to multiple news reports and an eyewitness photographer, who spoke with CPJ. “Palestinian filmmaker Ismail Abu Hatab’s death in an Israeli…

CPJ wrote an open letter on Wednesday, June 18, urging European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas to propose a suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. On May 20, the European Union committed to reviewing the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which sets out the EU’s…

Update: Omar Faiad was deported to France on June 10, 2025. Details of his deportation and the imprisonment of both journalists are included in the 10th to 13th paragraphs. New York, June 9, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Israeli authorities to immediately and unconditionally release two French journalists held among the crew of…

New York, June 5, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists denounces Israel’s strike on a hospital courtyard in central Gaza on Thursday, which killed three journalists and critically injured three others, and calls for international action to stop Israel targeting journalists based on unsubstantiated terrorism claims. “These are not isolated incidents, but systematic attacks by Israel…

New York, June 12, 2025—More than 200 global leaders of news and press freedom organizations called on world leaders, governments, and international institutions on Thursday to act immediately to ensure  journalists from outside Gaza are given immediate, independent access to the territory, in a letter coordinated by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters…

New York, May 28, 2025—After 19 months of war and Israel’s 11-week total blockade on food, water, fuel, cooking gas, medical supplies, and emergency aid into Gaza, hunger and famine threaten not just lives, but the media’s very ability to bear witness, six journalists told CPJ this month.  Starvation, dizziness, brain fog, and sickness all…

New York, May 20, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Tuesday’s decision by European Union foreign ministers to review the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which sets out the EU’s legal and institutional framework for political dialogue and economic cooperation with Israel. The review could in principle lead to a suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. CPJ has been calling for…

New York, May 15, 2025—When Gazan journalist Tawfiq Abu Jarad received a phone call from a Hamas security agent warning him not to cover a protest, he readily complied, having been assaulted by Hamas-affiliated forces once before.     The April 27 women’s anti-war demonstration in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahia was small but significant — one of…

New York, May 8, 2025—As the third anniversary of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh’s murder nears, a documentary offering new evidence about her killing highlights the failure of American and international authorities in investigating the case and securing justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. The documentary “Who Killed Shireen?”, produced by U.S.-based media…