Guwahati: A record 129 journalists and media workers were killed in the line of duty in 2025, making it the second consecutive year of unprecedented press fatalities, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Wednesday.
In its annual report, the New York-based independent organisation said Israeli fire accounted for 86 of the deaths — nearly two-thirds of the total. Most of those killed were Palestinian journalists in Gaza. The toll also included 31 media workers who died in an Israeli strike on a Houthi media centre in Yemen in September, which CPJ described as the second deadliest attack on journalists it has ever documented.
The report said Israel was responsible for 81% of the 47 killings that CPJ classified as intentionally targeted, or “murder”. It added that the actual number could be higher, citing severe access restrictions in Gaza that have made independent verification difficult.
“Israel’s military has now committed more targeted killings of the press than any other government’s military on record,” the CPJ said, noting that it has tracked journalist deaths globally for over three decades.
The Israeli military rejected the findings. In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it “strongly rejects” the claims made in the report.
“The IDF does not intentionally harm journalists or their family members,” it said. “The report is based on general allegations, data of unknown origin, and predetermined conclusions, without considering the complexity of combat or the IDF’s efforts to mitigate harm to non-combatants.”
Israel’s military has maintained that its operations in Gaza target only combatants, though it acknowledges that fighting in conflict zones carries inherent risks. In several cases, it has said journalists killed in Gaza had links to Hamas, but has not provided publicly verifiable evidence. International news organisations have denied such claims, and the CPJ described the allegations as “deadly smears”.
Israel does not allow foreign journalists independent access to Gaza, meaning all media workers killed there were Palestinians.
According to the CPJ report, at least 104 of the 129 journalists killed worldwide last year died in connection with armed conflicts. Apart from Gaza and Yemen, Sudan recorded nine journalist deaths, while six were killed in Mexico. Four Ukrainian journalists were killed by Russian forces, and three journalists died in the Philippines.
Russia’s embassy in Washington did not respond directly to the CPJ report but referred to previous Russian Foreign Ministry statements that accuse Kyiv of responsibility for the deaths of more than 60 Russian media workers since 2014. Russia has denied deliberately targeting journalists, while Ukraine denies targeting Russian reporters.
Among those killed in Gaza was Reuters journalist Hussam al-Masri, who died in August when Israeli fire struck near the Nasser Hospital in the enclave as he was operating a live video feed. Four other journalists were killed in the same incident.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the strike as a “tragic mishap”. The Israeli military had initially said it targeted a Hamas-operated camera. However, a Reuters investigation later found that the device belonged to Reuters.
The CPJ said the continued rise in journalist deaths underscores the growing risks faced by media workers, particularly in conflict zones, and called for greater accountability and protection for the press worldwide.