Israel responsible for two-thirds of global journalist deaths in 2025: CPJ

At least 86 members of the press were killed by Israel in 2025, driving the deadliest year for journalists in more than three decades, according to a report published by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Wednesday. 

Of the 86 journalists killed by Israeli fire, the CPJ report highlights that more than 60 percent of those killed were Palestinians reporting from Gaza, where UN experts and rights groups have stated that a genocide is occurring. Collectively, Israel was responsible for over two-thirds of the total 129 media fatalities documented worldwide last year – the highest number since CPJ started collecting records.

Besides Palestinian journalists in Gaza, Israeli air strikes have also killed more than 31 members of the press in Yemen, the CPJ noted. In terms of targeted killings, which the CPJ classifies as “murder”, Israel carried out 38 of the 47 incidents recorded globally by the CPJ. “Israel has now killed more journalists than any other government since CPJ began collecting records in 1992,” it said in a statement.

However, the report did remark that the real death toll of journalists targeted and killed by Israeli forces could be significantly higher, given the restrictions on media access and dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza. “With much contemporaneous evidence now destroyed, the true number of Palestinian journalists in Gaza who were deliberately targeted by Israel may never be known,” the CPJ said.

Meanwhile, the CPJ has rejected as “deadly smears” claims by the Israeli military that journalists killed by their forces had ties to armed groups like Hamas.

Outside Gaza and Yemen, Sudan had the highest number of journalists (9) killed in 2025, followed by Mexico (6) and Ukraine (4), the CPJ report noted. Sudan is in the middle of a civil war, Mexico has been swept by violence linked to drug cartels, and Ukraine is still under siege from Russian military attacks.  

The report also made note of journalists killed in countries like India, “where the rule of law is weak, criminal factions have free rein, and political leaders exercise unchecked power”. The report specifically highlighted the killing of freelance journalist Mukesh Chandrakar in Chhattisgarh, where his mutilated body was discovered in a septic tank weeks after NDTV aired his investigation into alleged corruption in a road development project. 

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