A record number of 129 journalists and media workers have been killed worldwide in 2025, reports the American NGO Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Israel was responsible for about two-thirds of those deaths.
More than 60 percent of the 86 journalists killed by Israel were Palestinians in Gaza. But Israeli bombings of two newspaper editorial offices in Yemen also cost the lives of 31 journalists, according to CPJ. According to Israel, the bombings targeted “military targets”, including the Houthi rebels’ “PR office”.
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More than three-quarters of journalists were killed in conflict zones, such as the wars in Ukraine and Sudan. It is striking that more and more journalists are dying from drone attacks. While only two journalists were killed by drones in 2023, there were 39 in 2025. 28 of those deaths occurred by drone strikes carried out by the Israeli army in Gaza.
But “journalists are not only in danger when they report on wars,” CPJ states. Take Mexico: where at least six journalists have been murdered in 2025. “All six murders remain unsolved,” CPJ said, continuing a long-standing pattern of undetected and prosecuted killers of journalists due to criminals’ powerful influence over police and politics, and widespread corruption.”
