Palestinian officials say Israeli forces have killed at least 219 journalists and media workers since the regime’s genocidal war started in the Gaza Strip more than 19 months ago.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said on Sunday that the Israeli regime is pressing ahead with its systematic policy of targeting and killing journalists to prevent truthful coverage of its war crimes.
The Syndicate said there are at least thirty female journalists among those killed by Israeli forces, and one who was killed in the occupied West Bank.
It noted that the regime’s forces also target Palestinian journalists’ families, and have killed more than 680 members of their families so far.
Israel has also been targeting media institutions in its war of extermination, destroying 115 institutions in Gaza.
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas said Israel’s latest ‘simultaneous deliberate’ strikes against Palestinian journalists are part of ‘its ongoing persecution and killing’ of media members.
At least five more Palestinian journalists were killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza on Sunday, as the regime keeps targeting media people covering its crimes in the Strip.
Hamas named the journalists killed as Aziz al-Hajjar, Nour Qandil, Abdul Rahman al-Abadlah, Khaled Abu Saif, and Ahmed al-Zinati.
‘Their homes and tents were bombed at dawn today, leading to their martyrdom, along with their children and families, in a complex crime that embodies the brutality of this fascist entity.
‘This brings the number of Palestinian journalists killed since the start of the Israeli assault on Gaza on October 7th, 2023, to at least 219, many of whom were killed with their families in their homes or while reporting on the ground.
‘The killing has turned the month of May, which marks World Press Freedom Day, into a graveyard for journalists in Gaza.’
At least 125 Palestinians, including many children, fell victim to the latest wave of strikes across the besieged Strip.
The total official death toll from the regime’s genocide since October 2023 has now exceeded 53,300, with over 121,000 others wounded.
UNICEF, originally the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, has issued a new warning about conditions of Palestinian children in Gaza, amid the ongoing Israeli blockade of the territory.
UNICEF said on Sunday that conditions in Gaza have drastically worsened under Israel’s crippling siege in the past two months.
The agency noted that children are enduring the regime’s relentless airstrikes while being deprived of essential goods, services, and life-saving care.
It called for an immediate ceasefire and the urgent entry of humanitarian aid into the territory.
In separate posts on Sunday, United Nations agencies condemned the daily sufferings and deaths of children in Gaza, buried under relentless airstrikes compounded by the Israeli regime forces’ ongoing blockade of emergency aid, including food and medicine, to the besieged Palestinian territory.
‘Children in Gaza are facing relentless bombardments while being deprived of essential goods, services and lifesaving care since the beginning of the conflict.
‘For the past two months, the situation has further deteriorated, due to the imposed blockade of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
‘Aid MUST enter Gaza now. The ceasefire MUST be reinstated NOW,’ UNICEF emphasised.
The WFP (World Food Programme) also raised the alarm that the threat of famine in Gaza is real.
It called on the international community to find a means to get food past the Israeli blockade as soon as possible.
‘We call on the international community to act urgently to get aid flowing again.
‘If we wait until after a famine is confirmed, it will already be too late for too many,’ it emphasised.
In the past days, the Israeli military announced that it intended to intensify its attacks on Gaza, using its newly recruited fresh reserve troops to expand its occupation area and force the dislocated Palestinians to new places.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the regime plans to ‘take control of all’ of the Gaza Strip, as his military launched a newly expanded offensive in the besieged territory.
In a video posted to his Telegram channel, Netanyahu said: ‘The fighting is intense and we are making progress. We will take control of all the territory of the Strip.
‘We will not give up,’ he added, noting that the regime ‘must act in a way that cannot be stopped’ in order to achieve this goal.
He admitted that the decision to allow a small number of aid trucks into Gaza late on Monday, the first in nearly two months, was made to avoid international backlash.
‘We must not let the population of Gaza sink into famine, both for practical and diplomatic reasons,’ he said.
Netanyahu revealed that close allies, including pro-Israel US senators, had called on him to allow some aid to avoid images of mass starvation, which could undermine international support.
‘Our best friends in the world, senators who are passionate supporters of Israel, came to me and said they would provide all the assistance needed to achieve victory: weapons, backing for eliminating Hamas, and protection at the UN Security Council,’ Netanyahu said.
‘But there’s one thing they said they cannot support: images of mass starvation. “We cannot stand by you in that situation,” they told me.
‘So, in order to achieve victory, we must address that problem,’ he added.
Backing Netanyahu’s decision, far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said it would allow ‘our friends in the world to continue to provide us with an international umbrella of protection against the Security Council and the Hague Court.’
In January, the Israeli regime was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas given the regime’s failure to achieve any of its objectives, including the ‘elimination’ of the Palestinian resistance movement or the release of captives.
The 42-day stage of the truce, which was marred by repeated Israeli violations, expired on March 1st, but Israel is refraining from stepping into talks for the second stage of the agreement.
On March 18, the regime resumed the strikes on Gaza, breaking the nearly two-month-long ceasefire.
An Israeli media report reveals that a growing manpower shortage has prompted the Israeli military to recall soldiers diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) amid the regime’s relentless offensive in the besieged Gaza Strip.
The Haaretz newspaper cited internal military concerns over personnel deficits and the increasing difficulty in maintaining active troop levels, especially amid the prolonged offensive in Gaza.
The newspaper further said that the Israeli military had begun enlisting reservists suffering from trauma and other psychological conditions, even if they were currently undergoing treatment.
One commander highlighted a sharp rise in PTSD cases and suicides among soldiers and reservists since October 7th, 2023.
‘Because our soldiers are not committed to fighting, we are forced to recruit individuals who are not in a stable mental state,’ he said, adding: ‘We fight with what we have, even if we are certain their psychological conditions are unstable.’
Figures show rising suicide rates have raised alarm in military ranks. Two recently recalled soldiers committed suicide, further intensifying scrutiny of the Israeli military’s handling of mental health issues.
An Israeli study recently found that around 12 per cent of reservist forces who participated in the war in Gaza had reported severe symptoms of PTSD, which significantly affects their ability to carry out their duties, making them unfit for war.
The developments come as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel plans to seize the entire besieged Gaza Strip.
The Hebrew-language Maariv daily recently said Netanyahu was expected to order an expansion of the ongoing onslaught on the besieged Palestinian region.
Israel has already expanded its ground aggression in Gaza, seeking to seize a large portion of the Palestinian territory.
Critics say the Israeli regime ‘is sending more soldiers into Gaza to fight in the same areas where battles have already taken place repeatedly.’
In recent weeks, thousands of Israeli reservists have signed letters demanding that Netanyahu’s regime stop the war in Gaza.
With Israel’s campaign of ethnic cleansing in Gaza now into its 19th month, Israeli soldiers are increasingly reporting experiences of ‘war trauma, family issues, and psychological distress.’
