MEDIA workers will gather outside the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) conference in Blackpool tomorrow to show support for their Palestinian colleagues and call on Israel to stop its troops targeting journalists. 

Union members from across Britain and Ireland will read out the names of the more than 200 media workers killed in Palestine in the past 18 months, highlighting that journalists have been the “eyes and ears of the world as the tragic events there have unfolded daily.”

They are also calling for greater solidarity with workers “still putting their lives on the line every day to bring the world the news” from Gaza.

The demonstration will also highlight journalists’ opposition to the ban on international media from entering Gaza to bear witness to the events there, “which is contributing to the suppression of information about what is happening.”

Tomorrow, an NUJ delegate meeting, the union’s main policy-making body, will hear several motions raised by members calling for their Palestinian colleagues to receive more vocal support, for the union to make representations to the governments of both Ireland and Britain and for policymakers to take greater action to hold Israel to account.

Manchester and Salford branch vice-chairman Dave Toomer, a former president of the union, said: “The world is relying on the reporting of a courageous cohort of journalists in Gaza who are feeding the details, images and videos of the horrific impact of the Israeli offensive on children, women, medical staff, aid workers and the journalists themselves. 

“It is time for us to stand up for fellow journalists whose lives are under immediate threat.”

The International Federation of Journalists and the Committee to Protect Journalists have warned that the present time is the deadliest period for journalists ever documented. 

And a new study by Brown University has described Gaza as a “news graveyard” where Israel has killed more journalists than in both world wars and the conflicts in Vietnam, the Balkans and Afghanistan combined.

NUJ Dublin broadcasting branch chairwoman Emma O’Kelly said: “As NUJ members, it is essential that we gather to openly express solidarity and support for our fellow journalists working in Gaza and our outrage as we watch them being targeted and killed by Israel just for doing their job.”