CPJ’s 2025 record and the new wartime totals
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported in late February 2026 that 2025 was the deadliest year ever recorded for the press, with 129 journalists and media workers killed worldwide since CPJ began collecting data in 1992. According to the same report, Israel was responsible for about two‑thirds of these deaths, making it the single most lethal state actor for journalists for the second year in a row.[1][2][3][4]
In its detailed breakdown, CPJ notes that the overwhelming majority of those killed were Palestinians during Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, alongside media staff killed in Israeli strikes in Yemen and other conflict zones. The report also highlights an increase in what it classifies as “targeted” killings or murders, with Israel responsible for roughly four‑fifths of these cases in 2025, and points to a near total lack of credible, transparent investigations.[3][5][4][1]
An Al Jazeera article on 25 February 2026 amplified these findings, foregrounding CPJ’s conclusion that Israel has killed more journalists than any government on record and emphasizing a “culture of impunity” around military attacks on the media. This framing echoes earlier assessments by other press‑freedom groups such as Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which had already identified Israel as the leading killer and jailer of journalists in 2025.[5][6]
CPJ’s continuously updated casualty tracker for the Israel–Gaza war, last revised on 26 March 2026, effectively extends this picture from the 2025 calendar year into an open‑ended wartime toll. In that update, CPJ’s preliminary investigations list at least 256 journalists and media workers killed across Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Israel, and Iran since the war began in October 2023, along with injuries, arrests, disappearances, and attacks on media infrastructure.[7]
The tracker states that Israel has now killed more journalists than any other government since CPJ started documenting such cases, and describes the current Israel–Gaza war as the deadliest conflict for journalists on record. CPJ stresses that these numbers are conservative: it is still investigating additional deaths and alleged targeted killings amid severe access restrictions, destroyed communications, and what UN experts have described as a genocidal context in Gaza.[7]
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- https://cpj.org/special-reports/record-129-press-members-killed-in-2025-israel-responsible-for-2-of-3-of-deaths/
- https://cpj.org/2026/02/record-number-of-journalists-killed-in-2025-israel-responsible-for-two-thirds-of-deaths/
- https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/record-129-journalists-media-workers-killed-2025-mostly-by-israel-says-cpj-2026-02-25/
- https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/25/record-number-journalists-killed-2025-israel-gaza-war
- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/25/israel-has-killed-more-journalists-than-any-government-on-record-cpj
- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/9/israel-the-top-killer-of-journalists-worldwide-once-again-says-rsf-report
- https://cpj.org/2023/10/journalist-casualties-in-the-israel-gaza-conflict/
- https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/israel-kills-more-journalists-nation-164739745.html
- https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/ng-interactive/2025/sep/01/israel-gaza-war-media-palestinian-journalists-killed-cpj
- https://www.democracynow.org/2026/2/26/cpj_record_press_killings_2025_report
- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/2/gaza-war-deadliest-ever-for-journalists-says-report
- https://qna.org.qa/en/News-Area/News/2026-2/25/cpj-says-129-journalists-media-workers-slain-in-2025
- https://www.ifj.org/war-in-gaza
- https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2026/02/two-thirds-killed-by-israel-129-journalists-die-in-2025/
- https://www.gbcghanaonline.com/features/journalists-killed-cpj/2026/
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