A Grim Milestone: Journalist Death Toll Tops 53 as Israel Kills More Reporters in Gaza and Lebanon

The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that at least 50 journalists and media workers have been killed in Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza. Forty-five of the slain journalists have been Palestinian. Others have been arrested or injured. According to CPJ, this has been the deadliest period for journalists covering conflict since the media group began tracking deaths over 30 years ago. Meanwhile, journalists in Israel and the West Bank have been confronted with cyberattacks, physical assault and other forms of censorship for allegedly harming national morale and harming national security" while reporting on Israel. It's a news blackout," says CPJ's program coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Sherif Mansour, under which the Israeli government is blocking essential media coverage" and withholding lifesaving information" from Gaza in order to win its Western propaganda war.