Arab News Japan

TOKYO: The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan (FCCJ) has issued a further statement condemning the attacks on media organizations and journalists in Gaza and Lebanon.

The FCCJ’s Freedom of the Press Committee said it “condemns the systemic attacks on journalists and the media infrastructure since the start of Israel’s campaign in Gaza following Hamas’s murderous killing spree in Israel on October 7th last year. We are also deeply concerned by the latest reports by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on the continuing loss of journalists’ lives as the campaign is extended to Lebanon.”

The statement noted that in 2023 and 2024, a total of 118 journalists were killed in Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territory, according to CPJ data. At least three other journalists have been killed in Lebanon since Israel began strikes against Hezbollah last month. 

The FCCJ noted that on October 25, an airstrike hit a compound housing 18 journalists from different media outlets in south Lebanon’s Hasbaya area. The Israel Defense Forces claimed it struck a Hezbollah military structure in Hasbaya where “terrorists were operating.”      

The CPJ said the following violations against the media had been recorded in northern Gaza: starvation and aid blocks; coverage constraints; equipment shortages; restricting medical care; and terror allegations against journalists.

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan said it “supports the call by Reporters Without Borders urging the United Nations Security Council to enforce its Resolution 2222 on the protection of journalists in Gaza. RSF has cited Israel’s failure to comply with its obligations to safeguard journalists under applicable international law. Resolution 2222 requires that measures be taken to protect ‘journalists, media professionals, and associated personnel’ in the field.”

The FCCJ statement said that more than three-quarters of the 99 journalists and media workers killed worldwide in 2023 died in the Israel-Gaza war, most of them Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza. 

“The conflict claimed the lives of more journalists in three months than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year,” the statement said. “The FCCJ condemns all attacks on journalists and demands action by the UN to enforce its resolution to protect all news media workers.”