Ramallah – May 4th, 2024. The world celebrates World Press Freedom Day on the third of May of each year, and this occasion falls in Palestine this year in light of the exposure of media freedoms to the worst crimes that can only be described as cruel and bloody against journalists and media freedoms, as the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip since the seventh of October 2023, resulted in 139 killed journalists and executed in cold blood by the Israeli war machine.
On this occasion, MADA condemns all attacks targeting journalists from all sides, especially the Israeli ones, which are directed against journalists and media institutions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Thirty-one years after the United Nations established World Press Freedom Day on May 3rd (adopted in 1993), journalists and media institutions are still the target of increasing attacks in Palestine with the aim of silencing them and preventing them from performing their duty. In addition to the number of martyred journalists which had not previously been documented, during the year 2023, MADA monitored 848 violations against media freedoms in Palestine, of which the Israeli occupation carried out 715 crimes, an increase of 72% over the previous year.
While MADA documented, from the 7th of October until the end of April 2024, a total of 634 Israeli violations against media freedoms in Palestine, which varied between physical attacks on journalists who were exposed to very serious injuries during their field coverage, and the occupation is still placing obstacles to prevent them from completing their treatment which posed a real threat to their lives; the destruction of local and foreign media institutions, the destruction of journalists’ homes, their arrest or detention, their prevention of coverage, the confiscation and destruction of their journalistic equipment, and other multiple violations that go on in a long list of violations.
On World Press Freedom Day, Palestinian journalist continues to suffer the most severe types of violations, in contravention of all international laws and standards, and the perpetrators of these violations continue to escape punishment, which encourages them to continue committing more of their crimes. The evidence confirms that all attacks committed against journalists and media institutions, especially those that occurred in the Gaza Strip, were deliberate and intentional, and were not accidental, passing incidents or the result of an unintended act.
On this day, we ask God for mercy for all our martyred journalists. We also extend our congratulations to all our female and male colleagues who are steadfast journalists in Palestine and the world in order to perform their professional duties.
MADA renews the call to hold the killers of the martyrs of the press in Palestine accountable, who are still immune from any accountability or prosecution which encourages them to commit more crimes.
On this occasion, MADA produced a short video about the Israeli attacks on media freedoms.
Use the link below to watch the video:
