The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) presented a grim report, revealing that 120 journalists and media workers lost their lives in 2023 while fulfilling their information mission. According to data compiled by the association, two-thirds of journalists who perished while reporting on current affairs were covering the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Among the victims, eleven were female journalists working in conflict zones.

In the Middle East, due to the conflict in the Gaza Strip, 75 Palestinian, four Israeli, and three Lebanese journalists lost their lives. This accounts for 68 percent of all journalists killed in hotspots around the globe. "Being a journalist in Gaza is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world right now",  writes  International Media Support.  More than 50 press offices in the Gaza Strip have been completely or partially destroyed since the beginning of the war.

At the same time, according to the study, the number of injured media representatives and those who lost several family members in the conflict is very high, as was the case with the coordinator of the Al Jazeera office in Gaza, Wael Al-Dahdouh. The journalist was reporting on the offensive in late October when he received word that his wife, daughter, and son had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. His grandson, wounded in the same incident, died a few hours later. "It's a difficult moment in the life of a Palestinian journalist, when they go to cover an incident for the news and find out that the news is their own family." Wael Al-Dahdouh later testified.

However, December 7 becomes another dramatic day in the correspondent's life: his eldest son, the journalist Hamza Al-Dahdouh, was killed along with another reporter while they were on assignment.

The war is also relentless against female journalists. On November 21, Al-Mayadeen TV reporter Farah Omar and cameraman Rabih Al-Me'mari were fatally hit by a missile shortly after finishing their 10:00 am live broadcast from Tayr Harfa in southern Lebanon.

"While we always remind journalists that no story is worth their life, there are too many situations where they are deliberately targeted to cover up stories and restrict the public’s right to know. It is a democratic right of citizens to be duly informed; it is governments’ responsibility to ensure journalists are protected to report independently", said FIJ general secretary, Anthony Bellanger.

According to IFJ statistics, during the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2023, three journalists and media workers were killed - one Ukrainian, one Russian, and one French.

Current information about the unprecedented situation of journalists in Kyrgyzstan, including arrests, persecution, and criminal trials resulting in heavy years of imprisonment, can be read HERE.