CPJ: Israel’s killing of 31 Yemeni journalists marks deadliest global attack in 16 years

The article from the Committee to Protect Journalists reports on Israel’s targeted airstrikes in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, on September 10, 2025, which killed 31 journalists and media workers. This incident is described as the deadliest single attack on the global press in 16 years and the second deadliest ever recorded after the 2009 Maguindanao massacre in the Philippines.

Key points:

• The strikes hit the offices of Yemen’s September 26 and Yemen newspapers, with most victims being staff of these outlets. The attacks destroyed news facilities, archives, and printing presses. A child and at least 22 other journalists were also injured.

• This attack is viewed as part of a pattern where Israel fails to distinguish between military targets and journalists, often labeling journalists as terrorists or propaganda agents without evidence.

• CPJ has documented that Israel is responsible for over 16% of global journalist murders since 2016 and has killed journalists in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, and now Yemen since the escalation of the Gaza war in 2023.

• Journalists in Yemen face “a double price”: deadly foreign airstrikes and severe local repression, including censorship, detentions, and violence, mainly by the Houthi authorities.

• The article warns this attack could go unpunished and increase further abuses and impunity. Names of those killed are provided within linked resources. The report concludes by calling for international accountability and highlighting the rising danger faced by journalists in Middle Eastern conflict zones.cpj