Relatives and colleagues of Palestinian journalists Saeed Al-Taweel and Mohammad Sobh, who were killed in Israeli airstrikes, mourn in Gaza Strip on October 10, 2023. The journalists were killed while filming the targeting of a residential building by 'Israeli' warplanes in Rimal district in western Gaza.

‘Israel’ killed 706 relatives of Gaza journalists: Report

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Palestine

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate says ‘Israel’ has killed 706 family members of Gaza journalists since October 2023.
The syndicate describes the targeting as systematic, aimed at turning journalism into a threat to family survival.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said that ‘Israel’ has killed 706 Palestinians from the families of journalists in the Gaza Strip since the start of the genocidal war in October 2023.

In a report issued by the Palestinitan syndicate’s Freedoms Committee, the union said the targeting of Palestinian journalists has gone far beyond killing, wounding, arrest, or preventing media coverage.

“Rather, it has evolved into a far more dangerous and brutal phase,” the report said, “marked by the direct targeting of journalists’ families and relatives, in a clear attempt to turn journalistic work into an existential burden paid for by children, wives, fathers, and mothers.”

Pattern of systematic targeting

The syndicate said attacks on journalists’ families have become “a systematic and repeated pattern” throughout 2023, 2024, and 2025, stressing that available evidence shows the killings were not incidental consequences of war.

“All indicators confirm that the targeting is not accidental,” the report said.

According to the documented figures, 436 family members of journalists were martyred in 2023, followed by 203 in 2024 and 67 in 2025.

Homes and shelters bombed

The report said the attacks took multiple forms, including the direct bombing of journalists’ homes, strikes on displacement shelters, and repeated bombardment of areas known to house journalists and their families.

The syndicate described what it called a “qualitative shift” in the conduct of the occupation across three levels: a move from individual to collective targeting, transforming journalism into a threat to private and family life, and dismantling the social environment that supports independent media.

Calls for international action

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate called for an independent international investigation and urgent action by human rights and press freedom organizations at the local, Arab, and international levels.

It also demanded international protection for Palestinian journalists and their families, and the inclusion of these crimes in ongoing international legal accountability efforts.