Journalists Syndicate: 12 journalists killed in May, 250 displaced from their homes

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate confirmed that the Israeli occupation regime, with all its components, continues to commit crimes against Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. These crimes, assaults, and violations against the Palestinian press have reached 137, most notably the martyrdom of 12 journalists and the destruction of four press offices in the Gaza Strip during the month of May.

According to the data and facts monitored and documented by the Syndicate's Freedoms Committee during the month of May, the occupation forces forced journalists to flee their homes in a dangerous manner. The displacement of approximately 250 journalists was monitored, most of them from Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, and approximately 100 from the northern Gaza Strip. This has deprived them of their livelihood and puts their lives at risk of death in light of the genocide being committed against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

The report indicated that last May witnessed the deaths of 12 martyrs, both male and female, as a result of Israeli occupation forces' shelling of the Gaza Strip, while the number of those who sustained fatal wounds from bullets and rocket shrapnel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip amounted to nine colleagues, some of whom are in critical condition.

The report indicated that Israeli missiles targeted a building in the Gaza Strip housing a media office housing four satellite channels, destroying it. Fourteen cases of severe beatings were monitored and documented, perpetrated by both occupation soldiers and settlers in the West Bank. Some colleagues were subsequently transferred to hospitals for treatment.

The report revealed 64 incidents of journalists and crews being detained and prevented from working, with 15 cases of suffocation due to being targeted with toxic tear gas, and five cases of shooting intended to intimidate and deter journalists from covering the protests. Four attempted run-overs were also recorded, along with three arrests, four cases brought before military courts, two summonses, and three cases of demolitions of journalists' buildings in the Gaza Strip.

The Journalists Syndicate affirmed its continued efforts with all relevant parties to provide protection for journalists, as well as to prosecute the occupation regime for its ongoing crimes against journalists, which have killed 226 journalists and media workers by the time this report was prepared.