PARIS: RSF said Israel was responsible for nearly half of all journalists killed this year worldwide, with 29 Palestinian reporters slain by its forces in Gaza, the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) group said on Tuesday.
In its annual report, the Paris-based media freedom group said the total number of journalists killed reached 67 globally this year, slightly up from the 66 killed in 2024.
Israeli forces accounted for 43 percent of the total, making them “the worst enemy of journalists,” RSF said in its report, which documented deaths over 12 months from December 2024.
The most deadly single attack was a so-called “double-tap” strike on a hospital in south Gaza on August 25 which killed five journalists, including two contributors to international news agencies Reuters and the Associated Press.
In total, since the start of hostilities in Gaza in October 2023, nearly 220 journalists have died, making Israel the biggest killer of journalists worldwide for three years running, RSF data shows.
Foreign reporters are still unable to travel to Gaza — unless they are in tightly controlled tours organized by the Israeli military — despite calls from media groups and press freedom organizations for access.
Elsewhere in the RSF annual report, the group said that 2025 was the deadliest year in Mexico in at least three years, with nine journalists killed there, despite pledges from left-wing President Claudia Sheinbaum to help protect them.
War-wracked Ukraine (three journalists killed) and Sudan (four journalists killed) are the other most dangerous countries for reporters in the world, according to RSF.
The overall number of deaths last year is far down from the peak of 142 journalists killed in 2012, linked largely to the Syrian civil war, and is below the average since 2003 of around 80 killed per year.
The RSF annual report also counts the number of journalists imprisoned worldwide for their work, with China (121), Russia (48) and Myanmar (47) the most repressive countries, RSF figures showed.
As of December 1, 2025, 503 journalists were detained in 47 countries across the world, the report said.
Israel killed highest number of journalists again this year — media freedom group
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Israel killed highest number of journalists again this year — media freedom group
- Reporters Without Borders says total number of journalists killed reached 67 globally this year
- Israeli forces accounted for 43% of the total, making them ‘the worst enemy of journalists’
Syrian forces enter Hasakah after SDF releases Daesh detainees
- Army units are securing Al-Shaddadi prison and its surrounding areas while pursuing the arrests of Daesh detainees
- The Syrian army said it holds the SDF fully responsible for the release of Daesh components
LONDON: The army of the Syrian Arab Republic launched sweeping operations south of Hasakah in the country’s northeast to arrest members of the Daesh terror group on Monday after the Syrian Democratic Forces released them from a prison in the town of Al-Shaddadi.
The army’s Operations Command announced that its units were securing Al-Shaddadi prison and its surrounding areas while also pursuing the arrests of Daesh detainees. The prison and Al-Shaddadi’s security facilities will be handed over to the Ministry of Interior immediately upon completion of security operations, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.
Syrian military leaders contacted mediators and SDF officials to transfer control of the prison and its perimeter to the government’s internal security forces, but SDF leaders declined, according to SANA.
The Syrian army said it holds the SDF fully responsible for the release of Daesh components from Al-Shaddadi prison, emphasizing that army units would implement necessary measures to restore security in the area.
Syrian forces began deploying across the Jazira region on Monday to secure it under an agreement between the Syrian state and the SDF.
