The airstrike on the tent housing journalists in the grounds of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis killed Hilmi al-Faqaawi, a social media manager for pro-Palestinian Islamic Jihad broadcaster Palestine Today TV, and injured the following journalists:

• Ahmed Mansour, Palestine Today news agency editor
• Ahmed Al-Agha, BBC Arabic contributor
• Mohammed Fayeq, freelance photojournalist and drone operator
• Abdullah Al-Attar, freelance photographer for Anadolu Agency
• Ihab Al-Bardini, camera operator contributing to U.S. channel ABC
• Mahmoud Awad, Al Jazeera camera operator
• Majed Qudaih, Radio Algerie correspondent
• Ali Eslayeh, photographer for West Bank-based site Alam24

The Israel Defense Forces said the strike targeted Hassan Eslayeh, a freelance photographer who was with Hamas on October 7, 2023. The IDF said Eslayeh, who was injured on April 7, 2025, was a “terrorist” who “participated in the bloody massacre.”

In 2023, the pro-Israeli watchdog HonestReporting published a photo of Eslayeh being kissed by then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, after which CNN, the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies cut ties with the journalist.

“This is not the first time Israel has targeted a tent sheltering journalists in Gaza. The international community’s failure to act has allowed these attacks on the press to continue with impunity, undermining efforts to hold perpetrators accountable,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa  Director Sara Qudah. “CPJ calls on authorities to allow the injured, some of whom have sustained severe burns, to be evacuated immediately for treatment and to stop attacking Gaza’s already devastated press corps.”

Footage verified by Reuters news agency showed people trying to douse flames in the tent while other images of someone trying to rescue a journalist in flames were widely shared online.

CPJ’s email to the IDF’s North America Media Desk to request comment did not receive an immediate response.

More than 170 journalists and media workers have been killed in the Israel-Gaza war.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

Protests erupted and grew in multiple cities across Turkey following the government crackdown on Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was due to be selected as an opposition party presidential nominee on March 23, alongside other politicians and municipal staff last week. Multiple journalists have been placed in police custody, while several have been hurt by the police in the field since March 21.

“Neither the police violence targeting journalists who are covering the street protests, nor the raiding of their homes, is acceptable under any conditions,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative. “Turkish authorities should immediately release the journalists in custody and allow the press to operate freely and safely.”

Police in Istanbul took at least five photojournalists into custody while raiding their homes on Monday morning: Yasin Akgül of Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Ali Onur Tosun of NOW Haber, along with freelancers Bülent Kılıç, Zeynep Kuray, and Hayri Tunç. Another freelance photojournalist, Murat Kocabaş, was also detained by the police in Izmir on Monday.

Zişan Gür, a reporter for the leftist news website Sendika, was taken into custody by the police while in the field in Istanbul on Sunday evening.

Turkish police have also beaten or used rubber bullets on multiple field reporters since Friday, according to local press freedom advocacy groups, including: Akgül, Egemen İsar of the Nefes newspaper, Hakan Akgün of the state-owned Anadolu Agency, Dilara Şenkaya of Reuters, Ali Dinç of Bianet, Eylül Deniz Yaşar of İlke TV, Yusuf Çelik of Özgür Gelecek, and freelancers Kemal Aslan and Rojda Altıntaş. The journalists also had their equipment damaged by the police, according to those groups.

Meanwhile, Ebubekir Şahin, the government-appointed chair of the media regulator RTÜK, has threatened Turkish TV channels broadcasting the protests and opposition rallies with license cancellations. İlhan Taşçı, an opposition-appointed member of the RTÜK, argued that the regulator has no authority to suppress broadcasts before they air and can only review what has already run.

CPJ emailed RTÜK and the Turkey’s Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, for comment but didn’t receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

By Faruk Hanedar in Istanbul

“Women, children, and families have no food. They are trying to drink water from puddles. People are eating grass.”

— Kia Ora Gaza advocate Roger Fowler

New Zealand activist Roger Fowler has condemned the Israeli regime’s actions in the Gaza Strip, saying “this is definitely genocide”.

“The Israeli regime has not hidden its intention to destroy or displace the Palestinian people, especially those in Gaza, from the beginning,” he said.

“They are committing a terrible act — killing tens of thousands of people, injuring more, and destroying a large part of this beautiful country.”

• READ MORE: John Minto: Why is mainstream media in NZ so blatantly ignoring Gaza?
• US vetoes another UN Security Council resolution urging Gaza war ceasefire
• Al Jazeera’s live newsfeed on Gaza
• Other images and videos from today’s Auckland protest
• Other John Minto commentaries

The death toll from the Israeli War on Gaza topped 29,000 this week – mostly women and children – and there were reports of deaths from starvation.

Fowler demanded action to halt the attacks and expressed hope about the potential effect of the international Freedom Flotilla — a grassroots organisation working to end the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza.

He noted large-scale protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza and emphasised efforts to pressure governments, including through weekly protests in New Zealand to unequivocally condemn Israel’s actions as unacceptable.

Long-standing mistreatment
He stressed that the “tragedy” had extended beyond recent months, highlighting the long-standing mistreatment endured by Palestinians — particularly those in Gaza — for the last 75 years.

Fowler pointed out the dire situation that Gazans faced — confined to a small territory with restricted access to essential resources including food, medicine, construction materials and necessities.

He noted his three previous trips to Gaza with land convoys, where he demonstrated solidarity and observed the dire circumstances faced by the population.

“Boycott is a very effective action,” said Fowler, underlining the significance of boycotts, isolation and sanctions, while stressing the necessity of enhancing and globalising initiatives to end the blockade.

“I believe that boycotting has a great impact on pressuring not only major companies to withdraw from Israel and end their support, but also on making the Israeli government and our own governments understand that they need to stop what they are doing.”

Fowler also criticised the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) “genocide decision” for being ineffective due to the arrogance of those governing Israel.

South Africa brought a genocide case against Israel to the ICJ in December and asked for emergency measures to end Palestinian bloodshed in Gaza, where nearly 30,000 people have been killed since October 7.

World Court fell short
The World Court ordered Israel last month to take “all measures within its power” to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza but fell short of ordering a ceasefire.

It also ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective” measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip.

Fowler said all nations must persistently advocate and exert pressure for adherence to decisions by the UN court.

Fowler acknowledged efforts by UN personnel but he has concerns about their limited resources in Gaza, citing the only avenue for change is for people to pressure authorities to stop the genocide and ensure Israel is held accountable.

“It’s definitely tragic and heartbreaking. Women, children, and families have no food. They are trying to drink water from puddles. People are eating grass. This is a very desperate situation. No one is talking about the children. Thousands of people are under the rubble, including small babies and children,” he said.

Roger Fowler is a Mangere East community advocate, political activist for social justice in many issues, and an organiser of Kia Ora Gaza. This article was first published by Anadolu Agency and is republished with permission.

kiaoragaza.net

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

On Wednesday evening, Russian forces shelled Park Hotel in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, injuring Violetta-Anastasia Pedorich, a Ukrainian freelance producer working with the French public broadcaster France Télévisions, and Davit Kachkachishvili, a reporter with the Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency, Pedorich and Etienne Leenhardt, France Télévisions’ head of investigations and special reports, told CPJ.

At least 13 people were injured in the strike but others escaped unharmed—including Anadolu Agency photojournalist Özge Elif Kızıl, France Télévisions reporter Anaïs Hanquet, and camera operator Valérie Lucas, while Anadolu Agency’s car was destroyed, those sources said.  

Pedorich told CPJ that her face and hands were hit by pieces of glass, while Kachkachishşvili had minor cuts on his hands, according to the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine and the local press freedom group Institute of Mass Information (IMI). Neither was seriously injured. 

“CPJ is very concerned about Russia’s latest missile attack in Ukraine that targeted a hotel housing journalists. Media are instrumental in informing the world about the war, and journalists are civilians under international humanitarian law and should never be considered combatants,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Russian and Ukrainian authorities should investigate the attack that injured journalists Violetta-Anastasia Pedorich and Davit Kachkachishvili, and Russia must stop targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, including facilities that house journalists.”

On Friday, Pedorich told CPJ that she had returned to the capital, Kyiv, and still had “a bit of tremors” when she moved, some nausea, and headaches, but she was feeling ok “overall” and would undergo a medical check-up on Saturday.

Pedorich told CPJ that on the morning of the attack, her team was reporting on the frontline with artillery soldiers in the direction of the eastern city of Avdiivka, which she finds now “very ironic.”

“The attack happened five minutes after (the France Télévisions team) arrived, and luckily enough, because Valérie (Lucas) and Anaïs (Hanquet) were still in the corridor, looking for their rooms, and I just had the time to enter the room,” said Pedorich, who has been covering the war for almost two years for multiple foreign media outlets. 

“We were really scared … we felt that the second bombardment had hit the hotel directly. We still can’t quite grasp what happened,” Hanquet told France 2.

The Russian Defense Ministry gave no official comment on the January 10 strike. 

“Soldiers have never stayed in this hotel,” IMI quoted Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov as saying. “This hotel was used by journalists. It was a well-known fact … This leads me to believe that the Russian Federation was targeting the mass media specifically.”

Russia has previously attacked hotels and restaurants in Ukraine known to be frequented by journalists. On December 30, a Russian missile hit another hotel in Kharkiv that was housing dozens of journalists, injuring three.

“On a Telegram channel, a Russian army officer claims that this facility was housing mercenaries. The members of our team are well and truly journalists,” France 2 said in its report about the strike.

CPJ’s emails to the Russian and Ukrainian Defense Ministries did not receive any replies.

At least 15 journalists have been killed while working in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, while many others have been injured, detained, or threatened.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Alkharouf, a photojournalist with Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency, was covering Friday prayers near Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem on December 15 when a group of Israeli Border Police officers attacked him, according to Anadolu Agency, footage shared by The Union of Journalists in Israel, and news reports.

The officers initially brandished their weapons at Alkharouf, punched him, and then threw him to the ground, kicking him. Alkharouf sustained severe blows, resulting in injuries to his face and body, and was subsequently transported by ambulance to Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem.

Israeli police also attacked camera operator Faiz Abu Ramila, who was with Alkharouf. CPJ was unable to immediately confirm details surrounding the attack. CPJ’s WhatsApp messages to Faiz did not immediately receive a response.

The Israeli soldiers obstructed the work of nearby press crews, preventing them from reaching Alkharouf to check on his condition after he was evacuated from the scene for medical treatment, according to Wafa.

“The physical attack on Mustafa Alkharouf is not a singular incident. It belongs to a pattern of physical attacks, assaults, and threats by Israeli soldiers and settlers on journalists reporting from the West Bank and Israel that have dramatically increased since October 7,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna, from New York. “CPJ calls on Israeli authorities to immediately cease attacking journalists, hold accountable those involved in these attacks, and provide much-needed protection to journalists reporting in Israel and the West Bank.”

Since the start of the October 7 war, Israeli soldiers and settlers have assaulted and threatened Palestinian and international journalists reporting in Israel and the West Bank. These incidents included attacks on journalists from BBC Arabic, Sky News Arabia, the German public broadcaster ARD, Al-Jazeera English, The New Arab, and RT Arabic.

CPJ’s email to the Israeli Police did not immediately receive a response. Israeli police have launched an investigation into Alkharouf’s beating and suspended the officers involved, according to its post on X, Anadolu, and other news reports. 

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Alkharouf, a photojournalist with Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency, was covering Friday prayers near Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem on December 15 when a group of Israeli Border Police officers attacked him, according to Anadolu Agency, footage shared by The Union of Journalists in Israel, and news reports.

The officers initially brandished their weapons at Alkharouf, punched him, and then threw him to the ground, kicking him. Alkharouf sustained severe blows, resulting in injuries to his face and body, and was subsequently transported by ambulance to Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem.

Israeli police also attacked camera operator Faiz Abu Ramila, who was with Alkharouf. CPJ was unable to immediately confirm details surrounding the attack. CPJ’s WhatsApp messages to Faiz did not immediately receive a response.

The Israeli soldiers obstructed the work of nearby press crews, preventing them from reaching Alkharouf to check on his condition after he was evacuated from the scene for medical treatment, according to Wafa.

“The physical attack on Mustafa Alkharouf is not a singular incident. It belongs to a pattern of physical attacks, assaults, and threats by Israeli soldiers and settlers on journalists reporting from the West Bank and Israel that have dramatically increased since October 7,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna, from New York. “CPJ calls on Israeli authorities to immediately cease attacking journalists, hold accountable those involved in these attacks, and provide much-needed protection to journalists reporting in Israel and the West Bank.”

Since the start of the October 7 war, Israeli soldiers and settlers have assaulted and threatened Palestinian and international journalists reporting in Israel and the West Bank. These incidents included attacks on journalists from BBC Arabic, Sky News Arabia, the German public broadcaster ARD, Al-Jazeera English, The New Arab, and RT Arabic.

CPJ’s email to the Israeli Police did not immediately receive a response. Israeli police have launched an investigation into Alkharouf’s beating and suspended the officers involved, according to its post on X, Anadolu, and other news reports. 

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

The journalists were covering anti-government demonstrations in the city’s Bardo district, which began on July 25 after President Kais Saied fired Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and suspended parliament, according to news reports.

On July 25, unidentified protestors threw rocks at Yassine Gaidi, a photojournalist at the Turkish-owned Anadolu Agency, hitting him in the head and feet, according to a Facebook post by the journalist, news reports, and the SNJT statement.

Gaidi received stitches on his legs at a local hospital following the attack, and was released the same day, according to those sources and a Facebook post by photojournalist Hamzaa Kriistou, who witnessed the incident.

Also during that demonstration, protesters threw rocks and water bottles at Yosra Chikhaoui, a reporter for the independent news website Hakaek Online; Zied Hosni, a reporter for privately owned radio station Shems FM; and freelance photojournalist Mohamed Tata, according to news reports, the SNJT statement, and Chikhaoui, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

Chikhaoui told that she received multiple bruises on her body from the objects. Hosni was hit in the chest and legs, and Tata was hit in the legs, according to those sources and a Facebook post by Hosni, which did not specify the extent of their injuries.

Also on July 25, security forces grabbed Kriistou, a photojournalist for the state-run news agency Tunis Afrique Presse, by his back and arms to stop him from covering the protests in Bardo, according to the SNJT statement and a Facebook post by the journalist.

On July 26, protestors shoved Walid Abdallah, a correspondent for Saudi news channel Al-Arabiya, and called him a spy while he attempted to cover the protests, according to a report by his employer, which included a video of the attack.

Also on July 26, Tunisian security forces raided the Tunis office of Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera, ordered staff to leave the building, and confiscated equipment, CPJ documented at the time. As of today, the office remains closed, and its staff is obliged to work remotely without having access to their professional equipment, according to the broadcaster’s Tunis bureau chief, Lotfi Hajji, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

Separately, on July 28, plainclothes police officers briefly detained a New York Times reporting team consisting of Cairo Bureau Chief Vivian Yee, Tunis correspondent Massinissa Benlakehal, and a third journalist who did not want their name disclosed, according to a report by the newspaper and Yee, who communicated with CPJ via email.

The team was covering protests in Tunis’ al-Tamadon neighborhood when officers detained them and brought them to a local police station to check their documentation, according to those sources. Police held the team for about two hours, questioned Benlakehal, and then released the journalists without charge; Yee told CPJ she was unable to specify what officers asked Benlakehal about.

CPJ emailed Tunisia’s Central Police Office and Nouri Lajmi, the president of the Independent High Authority of Audiovisual Communication, the country’s broadcast regulator, for comment, but did not receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On May 12, Israeli forces in the West Bank city Tulkarem arrested Hazem Naser, a Palestinian camera operator for the Amman-based broadcaster Al-Ghad, according to a report by his employer; he remains in detention today, and authorities have not disclosed the reason for his arrest.

Separately, two members of a right-wing Israeli demonstration in Tel Aviv assaulted a TV crew working for the Israeli public broadcaster Kan News yesterday, according to news reports.

Also, an Israeli air strike injured at least two Palestinian journalists with the Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency yesterday in Gaza, their employer reported.

“Israeli authorities must cease arresting and attacking journalists, who play a vital role reporting the news and bringing clarity amid chaos,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa representative Ignacio Miguel Delgado. “Israeli authorities must immediately release camera operator Hazem Naser, and do their utmost to protect Palestinian and Israeli journalists covering conflict and unrest in the country and allow them to work freely and safely.”

Israeli security forces arrested Naser at the Anab military checkpoint near the West Bank city of Tulkarem on May 12, while he was on his way home after covering clashes in the city, according to his employer, news reports, and a report by the Skeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom, a regional press freedom group.

In an Al-Ghad broadcast later on May 12, the outlet’s Hebron correspondent Raed al-Sharif said that he had lost contact with Naser and believed that the Israeli army had arrested him and seized his car. Naser’s cousin, Muhammad Naser, confirmed the journalist’s arrest to the Skeyes Center, telling the group, “Until now we don’t know the reason for his arrest.”

On May 13, Al-Ghad published a report saying that an Israeli court had extended Naser’s detention for 11 days. Israeli forces previously arrested Naser in 2016, and Palestinian forces arrested him in 2018, as CPJ documented at the time.

Separately, in Tel Aviv’s Hatikva neighborhood yesterday, two unidentified members of a right-wing Israeli demonstration attacked a Kan News team consisting of reporter Yoav Zehavi and camera operator Rolik Nowitzki, who had been covering the demonstration, according to footage of the incident posted on social media and tweets by Zehavi.

The footage shows two men kicking Nowiztki and beating him with a motorcycle helmet, throwing his camera to the ground, and then stealing the camera and fleeing the scene; the men shouted at Zehavi but did not beat him up.

Zehavi wrote on Twitter that the demonstrators were chanting “death to the Arabs” and “Mohammad is dead.” Nowitzki was hospitalized following the attack, according to reports.

In a separate incident yesterday in northern Gaza, a rocket fired in an Israeli air strike exploded near a car transporting Anadolu Agency photojournalist Mustafa Hassona and camera operator Mohammad al-Aloul, both Palestinians, injuring them, according to a report by their employer, a statement by the Turkish government, footage and pictures posted to social media following the attack, as well as images and video reviewed by CPJ.

Footage and pictures that CPJ reviewed shows the journalists’ car, clearly marked with the letters “TV” on its front and roof, with shattered windows and two holes in its side.

Hassona and Al-Aloul were transferred to the Indonesian Public Hospital near the northern Gazan city of Jabalia, where they are in stable condition, according to their employer’s report.

Al-Aloul sustained injuries in his left hand and arm and his left leg, and picture CPJ reviewed shows a piece of unidentified shrapnel that had been extracted from his leg. CPJ could not independently confirm the extent of Hassona’s injuries; he wrote on Facebook that he and al-Aloul were in good health.

According to a post shared on social media by Palestinian photojournalist Hosam Salem, a third journalist, Dawood Abu al-Kas, was also travelling in the car; CPJ could not verify whether he sustained any injuries.

CPJ emailed the Israel Defense Forces’ North America Desk for comment, but did not immediately receive any reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.