Israeli strikes killed at least three journalists in Gaza and Lebanon in a single day, prompting warnings from press freedom groups of escalating attacks on the media and a deepening climate of impunity.
The killings, which included what watchdogs described as a targeted strike on a journalist’s vehicle in Gaza, add to what the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called the deadliest conflict for journalists on record and raise renewed concerns over the failure to uphold protections for civilians under international law.
CPJ said April 8 that the deaths of Mohammed Samir Washah, also spelled Wishah, Ghada Dayekh, and Suzan Khalil reflect a “worsening climate of impunity and a blatant disregard for international law,” as Israeli forces carried out strikes across both territories.
Washah, a correspondent for Al Jazeera Mubasher, was killed in Gaza City when his vehicle was hit in what CPJ described as a targeted Israeli drone strike. In Lebanon, separate Israeli strikes killed Dayekh, a presenter with Sawt Al-Farah, and Khalil, a reporter and presenter with Al-Manar TV and Al-Nour Radio.
The attacks came amid intensified bombardment, including more than 100 strikes launched within minutes, hours after a ceasefire was announced between Iran, Israel, and the United States.
Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera Media Network condemned the killing, calling it “a deliberate and targeted crime.”
“Al Jazeera Media Network strongly condemns the heinous crime of targeting and killing Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent Mohammed Wishah, following a strike on the vehicle in which he was travelling west of the Gaza Strip,” the network said.
It added that the killing “was not a random act but a deliberate and targeted crime intended to intimidate journalists,” and said it “holds Israeli occupation forces fully responsible.”
Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the strike also killed another person. “Two martyrs, one of them Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Wishah, were killed when occupation forces bombed a vehicle in the Sheikh Ajlin area, west of Gaza City,” he told AFP.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) echoed the condemnation, saying Wishah’s name joins “those of the more than 220 journalists killed in two and a half years by the Israeli forces in Gaza, at least 70 of whom were killed in the context of performing their duties.”
CPJ said the latest deaths bring the number of journalists killed in the Gaza war since 2023 to at least 260. In Lebanon, at least seven journalists have been killed in recent weeks since the outbreak of the Iran war on Feb. 28, 2026.
“Journalists are being killed at a pace and scale that should shock the conscience of the world. These are not isolated tragedies; they reflect a systematic failure to uphold the most basic protections owed to civilian journalists under international law,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah.
The watchdog added that “deliberate, indiscriminate, or disproportionate attacks on journalists — civilians under international humanitarian law — are apparent war crimes and warrant investigation.”
“CPJ has consistently warned that without accountability, these attacks will continue to escalate, emboldening those who seek to silence independent reporting through violence,” Qudah said.
CPJ called for urgent international action, urging authorities to ensure that all cases of targeted killings are “independently and impartially investigated as war crimes,” and that those responsible “from the individuals in the Israel Defense Forces units to the highest level of the command chain — must be held to account.”
Al Jazeera said it would pursue “all necessary legal action to prosecute those responsible for the killing of its correspondents and staff in Gaza, and to seek justice for them and for all fallen journalists.”
“The killing of journalists in Gaza and Lebanon today is not incidental — it is part of a broader assault on press freedom,” CPJ said. “The international community must act now to stop it.”
