Being a Palestinian journalist in Gaza is incredibly dangerous. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Israel’s ongoing war has killed at least 168 journalists in the Strip, with others placing the figure as high as 232 —  amounting to more casualties than both world wars, the Vietnam War, the wars in Yugoslavia and the U.S. war in Afghanistan combined. Over the past year, in collaborative investigations with Forbidden Stories, +972 has revealed a pattern of Gazan journalists killed by the army merely for operating drones, or being attacked by army drones when clearly identified as members of the press.Our reporters in Gaza survive day by day with these constant threats to their lives — and yet they continue to write. We all held our breath reading how Mohammed Mhawish was buried alive by an Israeli airstrike and survived to tell about it. Ibtisam Mahdi wrote movingly about her vocation when death and destruction are everywhere around her. Ruwaida Amer described how the war has blurred the lines between life and journalism, forced to experience the same hunger, displacement, and loss that she reports on. And even after leaving the Strip, Mahmoud Mushata detailed the psychological toll that writing about Gaza continues to exact.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank, Israel has been systematically arresting and imprisoning Palestinian journalists, often without charges, as a form of punishment for their reporting. After winning an Oscar as co-director of “No Other Land,” +972 contributor Hamdan Ballal was attacked by settlers and detained by the Israeli military upon returning to his home in Masafer Yatta. This was a stark reminder of the daily dangers faced by those who dare to raise their voices and to use their pen to chronicle the reality of living under apartheid.

We are proud to remain a collective of Palestinian and Israeli journalists working to safeguard press freedom in the darkest of times. As Israel escalates its assault on the press — breaking new records for media censorship — your support enables us to continue to bring you voices from the ground in Israel-Palestine.

This World Press Freedom Day, join us. 

+972 Magazine team