October 13, 2026
As of September 24, 2026, (click here) CPJ’s preliminary investigations show that at least 247 journalists and media workers are among the more than tens of thousands killed across Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Israel and Iran since the Israel-Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, and the Iran war began on February 28, 2026. Israel has now killed more journalists and media workers than any other government since CPJ began collecting data in 1992. More press members have died in the combined Israel-Gaza and related regional conflicts than in any other war that CPJ has documented....
Mariam Abu Dagga, (click here) a mother and journalist, was killed in a 2025 Israeli double-tap attack on the last functioning hospital in South Gaza - she had a way out of Gaza but stayed to cover the slaughter. Chief international correspondent Bel Trew reports
Reaching into the body bag, and gently cradling her face, a family member places a mobile phone next to Mariam Abu Dagga's ear.
It is a devastating moment. Mariam, a journalist for Independent Arabia, has just been killed in an Israeli double-tap strike on the last functioning hospital in southern Gaza. She is surrounded by mourners in a tableau of grief.
On the phone is her only child, 14-year-old Ghaith. And he is saying goodbye.
He is more than 1,000 miles away, after his mother fought hard for him to be evacuated to safety in the UAE a year earlier.
And so - amid Israel's unprecedented siege and bombardment of Gaza - this is the only way for the distraught young boy to say goodbye....
The deadliest strike on Nassar Hospital consisted of bombs and not tanks, is believed to be due to it's Wifi Network and no other reason. Israel would believe such sophisticated communication capacity of a hospital with diminished numbers of therapeutic supplies a threat. The communication tower was about ambulances, not Hamas. There was not a health worker in Nassar Hospital that would harbor killers. The IDF could have taken any Hamas members that were seeking treatment in that facility. The brutality of the war in Gaza was never necessary.
Mariam Abu Dagga, (click here) a reporter with Independent Arabia was killed on the Israeli 25 August 2025 in a double-tap tank strike on Nasser Hospital, one of the last functioning medical centres in south Gaza. She was among at least 22 people, including five journalists, killed that day.
Based on dozens of testimonies from witnesses and whistleblowers, as well as analysis of images and videos, a joint investigation by the Independent and Independent Arabia, has put together the most comprehensive reconstruction of the attack revealing evidence of possible war crimes.
The findings also refute the Israeli military’s claim that the target was a camera “that was positioned by Hamas.”
The Israeli military declined to specifically comment on our findings but said “the review is still ongoing under the General Staff Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism.”
25 August 2026
Mariam Abu Dagga, (click here) a reporter with Independent Arabia was killed on the Israeli 25 August 2025 in a double-tap tank strike on Nasser Hospital, one of the last functioning medical centres in south Gaza. She was among at least 22 people, including five journalists, killed that day.
Based on dozens of testimonies from witnesses and whistleblowers, as well as analysis of images and videos, a joint investigation by the Independent and Independent Arabia, has put together the most comprehensive reconstruction of the attack revealing evidence of possible war crimes.
The findings also refute the Israeli military’s claim that the target was a camera “that was positioned by Hamas.”
The Israeli military declined to specifically comment on our findings but said “the review is still ongoing under the General Staff Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism.”
An Egyptian court ordered the closure (click here) of one of Egypt’s last independent news outlets Tuesday after convicting its editor-in-chief of operating a website without a license, a major blow to the country’s shrinking press freedom.
The publication, Mada Masr, said its editor-in-chief and founder, Lina Attalah, was released after paying a fine equivalent to about $53,400. She had been detained for seven hours after the verdict, with her whereabouts unknown during that time, according to the outlet.
Mada Masr is one of the few remaining news outlets in Egypt known for investigating corruption, the expanding role of the country’s powerful military, and human rights violations in a country where newspapers and television stations are closely controlled by authorities. Ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, Human Rights Watch called the prosecution of Attalah an escalation of an “outrageous attack on independent media.”
Attalah’s lead lawyer, Hassan el-Azhary, said Mada Masr planned to appeal the closure order....
