The war in Gaza that began after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel has killed more journalists than the U.S. Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the wars in Yugoslavia, and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan combined, according to a new report from Brown University’s Costs of War project.
As of March 26, at least 232 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since the war began, the report states.
The war in Gaza that began after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel has killed more journalists than the U.S. Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the wars in Yugoslavia, and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan combined, according to a new report from Brown University’s Costs of War project.
As of March 26, at least 232 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since the war began, the report states.
Comparatively, the report says 69 journalists were killed across World Wars I and II. More recently, 19 journalists have been killed in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, according to the report.
“It is, quite simply, the worst ever conflict for reporters,” the report says of the war in Gaza, while accusing the Israeli government of unleashing an “unrelenting war on the press.”
Estimates of the number of journalists killed in Gaza since Oct. 7 vary. Costs of War based its tallies on an Al Jazeera investigation and recent updates from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). But CPJ cites a lower total number on its website, saying that “at least 173 journalists and media workers” were killed as of March 31.
The vast majority of the reporters killed in Gaza have been local journalists. As recently as last week, two Palestinian journalists—Hossam Shabat and Mohammed Mansour—were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the coastal territory.
In a number of cases, Israel has claimed that local journalists killed during its offensive in Gaza—including Shabat—were affiliated with or members of militant groups such as Hamas, but CPJ has thrown cold water on these assertions.
CPJ has called on Israel “to stop making unproven claims that journalists slain by its forces are terrorists or engaging in militant activity, and demands international, swift, and independent investigations into these killings.” CPJ and other organizations such as Reporters Without Borders, which estimates that around 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza, have raised concerns that Israel has intentionally targeted journalists—which is a war crime—and is doing so with impunity.
In a statement last week, Reporters Without Borders called on the international community to “urgently pressure the Israeli government to end the massacre of Palestinian journalists.”
United Nations experts have also expressed alarm over “the extraordinarily high numbers of journalists and media workers who have been killed, attacked, injured and detained” in Gaza.
The Israeli military has repeatedly stated that it does not deliberately target journalists. Israel’s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
With rare exceptions, Israel has prohibited foreign journalists from entering the Gaza Strip since the war began. News organizations and journalists around the world have urged Israel to allow foreign media into Gaza but haven’t been successful—with the Israeli government justifying the strict policy as a matter of security.
“Israel has barred independent foreign correspondents from Gaza while killing local journalists in record numbers—and without any repercussions,” the Costs of War report states.
The Costs of War project is a nonpartisan research initiative within Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs that focuses on the direct and indirect costs of U.S. counterterrorism efforts. The project has closely monitored U.S. military aid to Israel.
Though the situation for journalists is especially dire in Gaza, the Costs of War report warns that dangers for members of the press are rising across the world.
“Threats to journalists in conflict zones are increasing at a time when journalism is under unprecedented threat and the news industry is mired in a decades-long downward spiral,” the report states. It warns that both terrorist groups and national governments are finding ways to “curtail conflict coverage,” including through armed attacks. This has created what the report refers to as “news graveyards” in conflict zones.
CPJ has reached similar conclusions, recently reporting that at least 124 journalists were killed in 2024 around the world—the highest number the nonprofit has recorded for a single year since it began collecting data more than three decades ago. Nearly two-thirds were Palestinian journalists killed by Israel, according to the group.
“All of the 2024 killings point to the increased dangers facing reporters and media workers—and the threat that poses to the flow of information worldwide,” CPJ said.
Costs of War is calling for a “global effort to aid reporters” and combat the “worldwide threat to the information ecosystem.”
“Reliable information is essential in conflict zones for the wellbeing of the local population and is necessary to enlighten the world on the forces behind wars and the toll on civilians,” the project’s new report says. “It is unacceptable that journalists—mostly local reporters—pay with their lives to do this vital work.”
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