PARIS, France: UNESCO Thursday awarded its world press freedom prize to all Palestinian journalists covering the war in Gaza, where Israel has been battling Hamas fighters for more than six months.
Chair of the international jury of media professionals, Mauricio Weibel, said, “In these times of darkness and hopelessness, we wish to share a strong message of solidarity and recognition to those Palestinian journalists who are covering this crisis in such dramatic circumstances”.
“As humanity, we have a huge debt to their courage and commitment to freedom of expression.”
Director general at the UN organisation for education, science and culture, Audrey Azoulay, said the prize paid “tribute to the courage of journalists facing difficult and dangerous circumstances”.
At least 97 journalists, 92 of them Palestinians, have been killed since the war began in October, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
The war began with an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, which killed 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to media reports.
Israel estimates that 129 captives remain in Gaza during the militant offensive. The army believes that 34 of them were killed.
According to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-controlled area, Israel’s retaliatory attacks against Hamas have killed at least 34,596 people in the Gaza Strip, most of whom were women and children.
