UN expert says Israel's assault on Gaza is deadliest-ever for journalists: "Cover-up of genocide"
Geneva, Switzerland - A UN expert accused Israel on Monday of intentionally targeting journalists in to a degree never before seen in a bid to cover up genocide in Gaza.
"The way in which journalists are being killed, silenced ... is the cover-up of genocide," Irene Khan, the special rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, told reporters in Geneva.
She said the latest United Nations figure showed that at least 252 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
That makes it "the deadliest conflict ever for journalists," Khan said, warning that the number "is of course likely to go up, because every week we hear news of more killings".
Already, "more journalists have been killed in Gaza than in both World Wars, Vietnam War, wars in Yugoslavia, and the war in Afghanistan combined," she said.
By comparison, she said 14 journalists had been killed in Ukraine since Russia began its full-scale invasion in early 2022, while the number of journalists killed over two decades of conflict in Afghanistan was in "the dozens."
Israel attempting "to kill the story"
Khan, who is an independent expert mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, maintained that many of the journalists killed in Gaza had been "deliberately picked out and killed because of the work that they are doing to expose the atrocities, the crimes, the genocide on the ground."
She slammed Israeli "smear campaigns" which often baselessly accuse journalists of being terrorists.
"So it is not just killing journalists, but (an) attempt is being very clearly made here to kill the story," she charged.
Khan also voiced outrage that Israel has continued to block all access to Gaza for international journalists.
"What is happening in Gaza is extremely unusual," she said. "I cannot recall another situation where a member state of the United Nations has denied access to independent international media for a conflict."
"States must stop Israel before all journalists in Gaza are silenced," Khan insisted.
Cover photo: REUTERS