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Last year was the deadliest for media workers on record, according to a report released on Wednesday, with IsraelÌýresponsible for 70 percent of all journalists killed in 2024 as part of its military offensivesÌýin Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.

The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) report documents the deaths of 124 journalists across 18 countries, 85 of whom were killed by Israel, primarily Palestinian or Lebanese press covering Israeli bombing and assaults.

CEO of CPJ Jodie Ginsberg told °®Âþµº that although working in war zones is always dangerous, the number of journalists killed by Israel through the war was "unprecedented".

While this was emblematic of the way Israel carried out its war on Gaza - having killed at least 61,709 people when including the thousands believed to be dead under the rubble - Ginsberg noted there were several examples where journalists appeared to have been deliberately targeted.

"We know in most of these cases that Israel knew these individuals were journalists and killed them anyway, which is if that's the case, a war crime," she said, adding that "in some cases, we know it because Israel told us that they killed those individuals".

Israel's 'unprecedented' killing of journalists

Besides being the deadliest year on record during the organisation's 44-year history -Ìý the previous record in 2007 during the height of the Iraq war - the report also noted that 2024 saw the highest level of work-related journalist killings, 103 up from a record of 81 set in 2023.

It also recorded the highest number of press members killed in a year by a single country, 85 by Israel up from a record of 78 in 2023, also by Israel.

A record number of Palestinian journalists or media workers were killed in 2024 at 82, up from 78 in 2023, and 2024 proved the deadliest year for freelancers killed with 43 losing their lives, with the previous highest toll being 24 in 2013.

CPJ designates the killing of a journalist as murder if research indicates that the journalist was killed because of their work. Likewise, it does not include journalists who were inciting violence with imminent effect or participating as combatants at the time of their deaths.

Out of the 24 journalists that CPJ's report listed as 'murdered', 10 were killed by Israel, including three journalists killed in a strike in southern Lebanon.

This includes the murder of Al Jazeera journalists Ismail Al-Ghoul and Rami Al Refee in an Israeli drone strike. After the targeted bombing, Israel claimed Al-Ghoul was a Hamas operative with "evidence" that included a document showing he received a military rank at the age of 10, a claim instantly dismissed by experts.

The claim was rejected by Al Jazeera, whose bureau chief for Ramallah and Jerusalem said Al-Ghoul had been detained by the army for 12 hours in March, but was subsequently released "unconditionally".Ìý

The CPJ is investigating another 20 incidents of Israel killing journalists that it says could also be deliberate.

Ginsberg said that the failure of Israel to hold the killers of journalists to account "creates an environment in which attacking journalists becomes fair game because people know that they can get away literally with murder".

'Journalism is under attack like never before'

That environment is not specific to Israel, however, as the report listed the deaths of 39 other journalists and media workers that were killed around the world, including six in Sudan, six in Pakistan, five in Mexico, four in Syria, three in Myanmar, three in Iraq and two in Haiti.

In Sudan, which has been locked in civil war since April 2023, three journalists were categorised as murdered, while in Mexico, a country which CPJ notes is one of the most dangerous for journalists globally, one was categorised as murder.

Countries marked by CPJ as consistently deadly for journalists also include the Philippines, Pakistan, India and Somalia. In Iraq, another country listed, an escalation of violence between Turkey and Kurdish fighters resulted in the killing of three journalists.

Another deadly trend highlighted in the report was the increased use of drones in targeted murders, including by Israel and Turkey.

For Ginsberg, the report shows that "journalism is under attack like never before".

"We've seen a trend in recent years to smear and demean journalists and journalism and to discredit the work of journalists, and that’s because those people in power who would rather have their wrongdoing hidden have an interest in discrediting the people who are exposing them."

She stressed that this is an international problem: "This is incredibly dangerous because we need individuals, we need organisations, who are going to speak truth to power and expose and uncover wrongdoing, corruption, and criminality."

"It's really important that people understand what a crucial role journalists play in bringing us information that would otherwise be hidden."