SCM Staff Writer I Tuesday, Sept 30, 2025
GAZA CITY – The Palestinian Journalists Protection Center (PJPC) has issued a strong condemnation following the death of photojournalist Yahya Barzaq, who was killed in a reported Israeli airstrike in central Gaza on Tuesday evening.
Barzaq was allegedly killed in an airstrike on Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza. The PJPC, in a press statement, called the incident “yet another war crime against Palestinian journalists” and claimed it reflects a “systematic policy aimed at silencing the voice of truth.”
Barzaq, who was said to work for international media outlets, had reportedly been displaced from Gaza City just four days earlier due to what the PJPC described as “Israel’s large-scale military operation” there.
However, the organization noted, he was “not spared from the bombing even in areas presumed to be less dangerous.”
According to the PJPC, Barzaq’s death raises the toll of Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli forces since October 7, 2023, to 253, with the majority allegedly killed while covering the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
The center went on to assert that the targeting of Palestinian journalists is part of a “systematic policy that amounts to a professional genocide.”
They cited Article 79 of Additional Protocol I to the 1977 Geneva Conventions, which guarantees special protection for journalists in conflict zones, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which classifies the targeting of civilians, including journalists, as a war crime.
In its statement, the PJPC urged international bodies, including the United Nations, the Human Rights Council, and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, to take “urgent action to document these crimes” and to open an “independent international criminal investigation” to hold those responsible for the targeting of journalists accountable.
The organization also called on the international community to “provide real protection for media workers” and ensure press freedom.
The PJPC stressed that “impunity granted to Israeli forces has emboldened them to continue targeting journalists and media institutions,” concluding that continued international silence would only deepen what it termed a “policy of systematic extermination against Palestinian journalism.”
