NUJ condemns continued targeting of Lebanese and Palestinian journalists by Israeli forces
The NUJ has joined the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) and the Union of Journalists of Lebanon (UJL) in condemning continued targeted attacks on journalists in Palestine and Lebanon by Israeli forces.
The IFJ’s latest figures show that at least 236 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed since October 2023, with several more injured or missing.
At the 62nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on 16 June, the IFJ raised alarm over the killing of Palestinian and Lebanese journalists and reiterated the need for immediate independent investigations.
The previous day, Lebanese journalist Hadi Hoteit was injured when he was directly hit by an Israeli drone while reporting on the aftermath of Israeli attacks in the town of Kafr Tebnit, southern Lebanon. He was taken to the hospital, where he recorded a video stating that the attack had been deliberate.
This followed several other attacks on journalists working in Lebanon in recent months. In April, reporter Amal Khalil was targeted and killed in a building where she had taken cover from Israeli airstrikes, with rescue teams prevented from reaching her for hours. Local photographer Zeinab Faraj, who was reporting alongside her, was injured in the attack.
In March, the NUJ condemned the killing of three Lebanese journalists following an Israeli drone strike on their media car in Jezzine, southern Lebanon, and days earlier, journalist Mohammed Sherri was killed alongside his wife in an airstrike on a residential building in central Beirut.
In Gaza, the killing of journalists has continued despite the agreement of a ceasefire in October 2025. On 20 June, Ahmed Wishah, a camera operator for Al Jazeera Mubasher, was killed when an Israeli drone struck a home in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. Ahmed Wishah's brother, Mohammed Samir Washah, also a correspondent for Al Jazeera Mubasher, was killed in an Israeli strike on his vehicle in western Gaza on 8 April 2026.
On 9 March 2026, Amal Hammad Al-Shamali, who worked with several Arab and local media outlets, was killed as a result of Israeli shelling on her tent in the town of Al-Zawaida in the central Gaza strip.
During a debate in Westminster earlier this month, John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington and NUJ parliamentary group secretary, urged the UK government to join other nations in collecting evidence of war crimes committed by Israeli forces.
McDonnell said:
“We are now experiencing in Lebanon exactly what we saw in Gaza, with the targeting and murder of journalists. When she was there in April, Amal Khalil, the famous woman journalist, was hit by an Israeli strike, and the Red Cross ambulance that went to assist her was hit as well. The Lebanese prime minister has made it quite clear that these are war crimes.
“Could I ask that the government join others in collecting the evidence, so that we can take action against the Israeli ministers who have perpetrated these war crimes against the Lebanese people, just as they did against the Palestinians?”
Hamish Falconer, foreign office minister, said in response that it is “appalling” that journalists in Lebanon have come under attack, adding that “we made interventions in the United Nations following some of those assaults on journalists both in Lebanon and in Israel, and we will continue to press these points.”
Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary, said:
“No journalist should pay with their life for telling the truth. The NUJ condemns the continued targeting of journalists by Israeli forces in both Palestine and Lebanon and joins the IFJ in calling for urgent independent investigations. Civilians, including journalists, are entitled to protection under the Geneva Convention, and these attacks clearly violate international law. For these legal principles to carry any real significance, the international community must uphold them and ensure those who are responsible are held to account.”
The NUJ has written again to the foreign office asking the UK government to precisely outline what action it has taken to hold accountable the Israeli government for its persistent targeting of journalists, facilitate an International Criminal Court investigation, and urgently protect media workers in the Middle East.