With two-thirds of all journalist deaths while on duty in 2025 attributed to Israel, a new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists exposes a deepening global crisis of press freedom.
Groundxero | Feb 25, 2026
A record 129 journalists and media workers were killed in the line of duty in 2025, making it the deadliest year for the press in over three decades, according to a new report released Wednesday by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Two-thirds of these deaths — 86 in total — were attributed to Israel, marking an unprecedented concentration of journalist killings linked to a single state in CPJ’s documented history since 1992.
The findings position the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza as the deadliest conflict for media workers ever recorded. The toll includes journalists killed in Gaza as well as in Israeli attacks extending to Lebanon, Yemen, and Iran. In 2025, Israel killed 86 members of the press, more than 60% of whom were Palestinians reporting from Gaza.
Notably, three journalists were killed, including one murdered, after the Trump brokered ceasefire in October 2025. In one of the deadliest single incidents, 31 media workers were killed in an Israeli strike on a Houthi media centre in Yemen — the second-largest such attack on journalists ever documented by CPJ.
CPJ reported that Israel was responsible for 81% of the 47 killings it classified as intentionally targeted, or “murder” of journalists in 2025. Since October 7, 2023, no one has been held accountable for any targeted killing of journalists by Israeli forces, continuing a pattern of impunity spanning more than two decades.
Globally, impunity remains the norm: over 80% of journalist killings remain unsolved, despite longstanding international commitments such as the UN’s International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.
While Gaza accounted for the majority of deaths, other conflict zones also saw rising casualties of media persons. Sudan’s ongoing civil war claimed nine journalists, while in Ukraine, four journalists were killed in drone attacks attributed to Russian forces.
The use of drones has emerged as a rapidly escalating threat to journalists working in conflict zones. From just two recorded cases in 2023, drone-related journalist killings rose to 21 in 2024 and at least 39 in 2025.
Israel’s use of drones to kill civilians in Gaza has been documented since the Israeli offensive Operation Cast Lead in December 2008, according to Human Rights Watch. In total, 62 journalists have been killed by drones in the last three years. Israel alone was responsible for nearly 75% of the journalists killed by drones from 2023 to 2025.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate has accused Israeli forces of deliberately targeting journalists’ families. In a 2025 report, it stated that more than 700 family members of Palestinian journalists have been killed since the attack on Gaza began in Oct 2023. “The journalist is no longer the sole target,” the report said. “The family has been transformed into a tool of pressure and collective punishment, violating the core principles of international humanitarian law.”
Journalists working outside war zones also faced lethal risks. Many journalists have been brutally targeted for their reporting on corruption and organized crime. For example, in Bangladesh, reporter Asaduzzaman Tuhin was hacked to death after documenting a violent assault linked to a fraud network. In India, freelance journalist Mukesh Chandrakar was found murdered following his investigation into corruption in a 1.2 billion rupee road project.
Key findings of the report:
- More journalists and media workers were killed in 2025 than in any other year since the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) began collecting data more than three decades ago.
- This is the second consecutive year-on-year record for press deaths.
- Israel was responsible for two-thirds of all press killings in both 2025 and 2024.
- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has committed more targeted killings of journalists than any other government’s military since CPJ began documentation in 1992.
- Drone killings of press members are on the rise: surging from two in 2023 — the first year CPJ documented such killings — to 39 in 2025.
On its website, the CPJ revealed that 329 journalists remained imprisoned as of December 1, 2025, while another 84 were missing as of that date.
“Journalists are being killed in record numbers at a time when access to information is more important than ever,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “Attacks on the media are a leading indicator of attacks on other freedoms.”
Feature image: A vigil for Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is held in Gaza City on May 11, 2022. CPJ has called for a thorough investigation into her killing. (Photo: AP/Adel Hana)
PDF of the report by CPJ is attached below.