NINETY-FOUR journalists have been killed doing their jobs in 2023, a rise of nearly a third on last year and double the 2021 figure, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said today.

Over 70 per cent have been killed during Israel’s war against Gaza, which has taken the lives of more journalists than any conflict for 30 years.

“The imperative for a new global standard for the protection of journalists and effective international enforcement has never been greater,” IFJ president Dominique Pradalie said.

So far 68 journalists have been killed covering the Israeli assault on Gaza following the Hamas attack on Israel of October 7.

The IFJ says the overwhelming majority are Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to ferocious bombardment and a ground invasion.

“The war in Gaza has been more deadly for journalists than any single conflict since the IFJ began recording journalists killed in the line of duty in 1990,” the federation said, adding that deaths have come at “a scale and pace of loss of media professionals’ lives without precedent.”

Israel has long been accused of deliberately targeting journalists. 

Media firm Al-Jazeera lodged a request with the International Criminal Court a year ago this week over its refusal to open a criminal investigation into the killing of its journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot dead while covering a raid by Israeli soldiers in the illegally occupied West Bank despite wearing a helmet and flak jacket marked Press. The Israeli military’s own probe found there was a “high possibility” Ms Abu Akleh had been killed by “accidental” Israeli fire.

This week, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch charged that the killing of a Reuters videographer and a strike which injured six other journalists in southern Lebanon were also deliberate hits by the Israeli military.

Crimes against media workers are going unpunished, the IFJ warned, urging governments to “shed full light on these murders.”

The annual report said Ukraine remains a dangerous place for journalists, with three killed so far this year, down on 12 last year. Three were also killed in Mexico.