LONDON: An Israeli airstrike killed three journalists in Gaza on Wednesday, the territory’s civil defense agency said. Their deaths came as a report revealed the number of journalists imprisoned worldwide remains close to a record high.

The agency said the bodies of Mohammed Salah Qashta, Abdul Raouf Shaat and Anas Ghneim were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah following the airstrike in Al-Zahra, southwest of Gaza City.

Shaat had regularly contributed photographs and video footage to Agence France-Presse, though he was not on assignment at the time, the news agency said.

The Israeli military said its troops had identified “several suspects who operated a drone affiliated with Hamas” in central Gaza and attacked them because of the threat they posed. The details were under review, it added.

An eyewitness said the journalists were using a drone to document the distribution of aid by the Egyptian Relief Committee in the Gaza Strip when a strike hit one of the committee’s vehicles.

“A vehicle belonging to the Egyptian Committee was targeted during a humanitarian mission, resulting in the martyrdom of three individuals,” said Mohammed Mansour, a spokesperson for the organization.

All vehicles belonging to the committee bear its logo, he added, and he accused Israeli soldiers of “criminally” targeting the vehicle.

Meanwhile, a newly published report by the Committee to Protect Journalists stated that as of Dec. 1, 2025, 330 journalists were imprisoned worldwide, down from a record 384 at the end of 2024 but still close to historic highs.

Israel, which is holding 29 journalists, all of them Palestinians, ranked third on the list of countries with the most detained media workers, after China (50) and Myanmar (30). Nearly one in five jailed journalists reported they had been subjected to torture or beatings.

“Autocracies and democracies alike are locking up journalists to quash dissent and stifle independent reporting,” the committee’s CEO, Jodie Ginsberg, said.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said Israeli forces had killed at least 466 Palestinians since the ceasefire agreement took effect in November. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that 127 journalists and other media workers were killed in the course of their work during 2025, the vast majority of them in Gaza.

* With agencies