Gaza: As the war continues in Gaza, 232 journalists, an average of 13 per week, lost their lives covering the scenario.

This data marked it the most lethal conflict for media workers in recorded history, according to a new report by the Watson Institute’s Costs of War project.

Released on Tuesday, the study highlights that more journalists have perished in Gaza than in World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, the Yugoslav conflicts and the US war in Afghanistan combined.

Describing it as “the most devastating conflict for reporters ever documented,” the Costs of War project noted the staggering toll surpasses all previous benchmarks. The report raises questions about whether Palestinian journalists in Gaza were deliberately targeted by Israeli forces or caught in the crossfire of widespread bombardment that has also killed tens of thousands of civilians. While exact motives remain uncertain, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), based in Paris, has identified 35 instances by the end of 2024 where Israeli military actions likely intentionally killed journalists due to their profession.

Among the notable cases is Al Jazeera journalist Hamza Dahdouh, who died on January 7, 2024, after a missile struck his vehicle in southern Gaza. He became the fifth family member of Wael Dahdouh, Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, to fall victim to Israeli attacks.

More recently, on March 24, Al Jazeera’s Hossam Shabat was killed when an alleged Israeli strike hit his car.

Israel’s military labeled Shabat a covert Hamas operative—a charge the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) dismisses as a recurring, unsubstantiated accusation used to rationalize the killing or abuse of Palestinian reporters.

The report underscores a grim reality: with foreign journalists largely barred from entering Gaza, local reporters—often poorly paid and ill-equipped—bear the brunt of the danger. The Costs of War project warns that this pattern, amplified in Gaza, reflects a global surge in risks for conflict-zone journalists. “Economic pressures, wartime violence, and orchestrated censorship are transforming conflict areas into media black holes, with Gaza standing as the starkest case,” the report concluded.