Israel has killed at least 706 relatives of Palestinian journalists since the start of its war on Gaza in October 2023, according to a new report by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, which accuses Israeli forces of deliberately targeting journalists’ families as part of a broader campaign to suppress independent reporting.
In a report released late Saturday, the syndicate’s Freedoms Committee said the scale and consistency of these killings demonstrate a calculated policy rather than incidental civilian deaths resulting from combat. The committee described the attacks as a form of collective punishment aimed at silencing Palestinian journalists by turning their profession into a mortal risk for their loved ones.
“Israeli violence against journalists has taken on a far more dangerous and brutal dimension,” the union said, “marked by the systematic targeting of journalists’ families and relatives in a clear attempt to make journalistic work an existential burden paid for by wives, children, parents, and siblings.”
What evidence points to collective punishment?
A pattern of family targeting
The report shows that 436 family members of journalists died in 2023, and the number dropped to 203 in 2024, and then 67 people died during 2025. The attacks kept going after families lost their homes through forced displacement because they moved into tents, schools, and temporary camps. These later became targets of Israeli air strikes.
Muhammad al-Lahham, head of the Freedoms Committee, said the pattern of violence over the past two years reveals a clear intent to dismantle independent journalism in Gaza.
“Targeting journalists’ families exposes a comprehensive war on the truth,” al-Lahham said. “The Israeli occupation makes no distinction between the camera and the child, nor between the pen and the home. The blood of journalists’ families will remain living testimony to the crime of trying to silence the Palestinian voice.”
Entire families erased
The syndicate documented repeated strikes on journalists’ homes, displacement sites, and neighborhoods known to house media workers and their relatives. In several cases, entire families were wiped out, leaving journalists alive to bear witness to the destruction of their own households.
One such case cited in the report occurred near Khan Younis, where the remains of journalist Hiba al-Abadla, her mother, and approximately 15 members of the al-Astal family were recovered nearly two years after Israeli aircraft bombed their home west of the city.
“Hundreds of children, women, and elderly people were killed solely because of their family connection to journalism,” the committee said, calling the attacks a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and basic legal norms.”
The report characterizes this shift as a move from individual targeting to collective punishment, warning that by transforming families into military targets, Israel is attempting to intimidate Palestinian society as a whole and “destroy the environment that sustains independent media.”
What psychological toll does family targeting impose on journalists?
The syndicate issued a warning about severe psychological damage which would affect all journalists who survive after the fatalities. The loss of children, or spouses, or parents has led to severe trauma, family breakdowns, and intense survivor guilt for many people. The ongoing Israeli violence has forced multiple individuals to leave Gaza while others had to stop working completely.
The Israeli military conducted journalist assassinations throughout the war while they made unsubstantiated claims about Hamas connections. The death of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif became a leading example among multiple media workers who faced fatal consequences after authorities labeled them as militants.
How many journalists have been killed during the Gaza war?
According to Shireen.ps the monitoring platform which honors Al Jazeera veteran correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh who died at the hands of Israeli forces in the West Bank during 2022, reports almost 300 journalist and media worker deaths in Gaza since the last 26 months—averaging about 12 journalists each month.
The media rights organizations have condemned Israel’s actions multiple times, but the killings continue with no legal consequences. Israel has never arrested or prosecuted a single soldier for the killing of a journalist, despite mounting evidence and international scrutiny.
The Gaza war has brought about an increase in attacks against media personnel, yet Israel has executed more than thirty Arab journalists throughout the previous twenty years. The December report from Reporters Without Borders revealed that Israel executed more journalists during 2025 than any other nation worldwide. Advocacy organizations view this as evidence of complete impunity.