Amman, Sept 15 (Petra) – UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan, said Israel is deliberately targeting journalists to cover up "the genocide" in Gaza, making the ongoing conflict the deadliest for media workers.

Speaking in Geneva on Monday, Khan stated, "The way journalists are being killed and silenced is to cover up the genocide," noting that the latest UN figures show at least 252 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since the outbreak of the war.

She added that this makes the aggression "the deadliest ever against journalists," warning that the number is rising weekly as Israel continues its lethal operations.

Khan noted that the number of journalists killed in Gaza exceeds those killed in World Wars I and II, the Vietnam War, and the wars in Yugoslavia and Afghanistan combined.

The independent expert, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but not speaking on its behalf, said many of the journalists killed in Gaza were "targeted" and selected for assassination because their work exposes atrocities and crimes on the ground.

She condemned Israeli "smear campaigns," pointing out that Israel labeled many journalists killed in its strikes as "supporters of terrorists or terrorists themselves" in an attempt to undermine their legitimacy and credibility, emphasizing that "states must stop Israel before all journalists in Gaza are silenced."

//Petra// AF

15/09/2025 23:35:09