GAZA CITY (Dispatches) — Palestinian journalist Islam Abed was martyred alongside her husband and children in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City on Sunday evening, according to the Palestinian Media Assembly, bringing the number of journalists martyred since October 7, 2023, to at least 270.
Abed, a correspondent for Al-Quds Today TV, was inside her home when an Israeli warplane targeted the apartment. Her death has drawn condemnation from Palestinian media organizations, which described the strike as part of a broader campaign against journalists working in Gaza.
Al-Quds Today TV called the assassination a “treacherous” attack, vowing that “the Israeli killing machine will not silence our voice—the voice of the Palestinian people.”
The Palestinian Media Assembly said hundreds of other journalists have been wounded or detained during the nearly two-year-long war, while media offices and infrastructure have been repeatedly bombed. It hit out at Israel for committing war crimes aimed at silencing the Palestinian narrative.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) called the ongoing killings “a comprehensive war crime” and said Israel bears full responsibility for Abed’s death and that of other media workers. The PJS urged international human rights and press freedom organizations to take urgent and effective action to hold Israeli officials accountable.
The Gaza Government Media Office and the Federation of News Agencies of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also condemned the killings, citing systematic attacks on press freedom and violations of international law.
Israel’s war in Gaza has become the deadliest conflict for journalists in modern history, with an average of 13 media workers killed per month. The United Nations and press freedom advocates have warned that targeting journalists constitutes a war crime under international humanitarian law. Rights groups say the attacks are intended to create a media blackout and obscure evidence of violations on the ground.