Journalists reporting from Gaza have voiced profound disappointment with the global community’s muted response to the targeted killing of media professionals by Israeli forces, recounting harrowing personal experiences of loss and survival at an international press freedom conference.
The powerful testimonies were delivered today, the second day of the International Press Institute (IPI) 2025 World Congress and Media Innovation Festival. During a panel discussion moderated by Jodie Ginsberg, Chief Executive Officer of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), media professionals who have covered the Gaza War expressed a deep sense of abandonment over the lack of international action against the violent assault on the press.
Wael Al-Dahdouh, an Executive Producer for Al Jazeera, described the unique and agonizing reality of reporting in the conflict zone, where one must choose between being a “journalist or a human.” Al-Dahdouh, who lost five family members in Israeli airstrikes, questioned the motives behind the attacks.
‘What did my family do? My wife? What did she do to them?’ Al-Dahdouh asked. He shared the lasting trauma inflicted on his surviving daughter, Batool, who was buried under rubble and now refuses to live in any space with a ceiling. He asserted that the international media failed to respond appropriately to the violence. ‘We were left alone,’ he stated, emphasizing that much more was required.
According to figures from the CPJ, an alarming 238 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israel since the conflict escalated on October 7, 2023.
Joining Al-Dahdouh on the panel were Basel Khalaf, a senior journalist for Al Araby TV; Rawan Damen, Director General of the non-profit Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ); and Laurent Richard, founder of Forbidden Stories.
Damen praised Al-Dahdouh’s balanced reporting and noted that targeting him was an attack on a role model for the press. She distinguished between the failure of mainstream international media to address the “genocide” and the efforts of independent outlets and some organizations that did speak out.
Laurent Richard warned of the grave consequences of inaction, highlighting the “normalization” of the murder of journalists and a pervasive lack of accountability.
Basel Khalaf offered a grim depiction of the situation on the ground. “Before the war, we described Gaza as a large prison, now it is a large cemetery,” he said. Echoing the sentiment of disappointment, Khalaf urged the global media to move beyond statistics and tell the human stories of Gazan reporters. He stressed that statements and condemnations are insufficient and called for tangible pressure on nations to influence Israel.
Khalaf also outlined the urgent needs of his colleagues in Gaza, including essential equipment, medical treatment for the injured, and freedom for those imprisoned by Israel, imploring the international press to keep the story alive.
The IPI World Congress, running from October 23-25 and marking the institute’s 75th anniversary, has also addressed other critical issues facing the media industry, such as the impact of AI, the jailing of journalists, and challenges to media viability.