Gaza: The Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip has announced that 262 journalists and media activists have been martyred since the start of the war in early October 2023.

According to Islamic Republic News Agency, the Government Media Office in Gaza stated in a statement Saturday on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, which is observed annually on May 3, that 420 journalists have also been injured since the start of the war.

Gazan journalists are living in catastrophic and unprecedented conditions, and with the ongoing war, media work has become a mission fraught with the risk of death and direct targeting, the statement read. The injuries include severe wounds leading to amputations and permanent disabilities, it added.

Approximately 50 journalists have been arrested with the harshest treatment since that time, it noted. It also announced that three journalists remain missing, and their whereabouts remain unknown. The statement termed these actions as a clear violation of humanitarian law and war crimes.

The Government Media Office in Gaza called on the international community as well as media and human rights institutions to take practical and immediate steps to stop the targeting of Palestinian journalists, provide immediate international protection for them, and prosecute the perpetrators of these actions in relevant international courts. It also held Israel responsible for targeting, killing, and arresting journalists, and stressed that the international community's silence regarding these actions is a dangerous weakening of the international justice system.