Brussels journalists call on media organizations to take action against killing of Gaza colleagues

By Ata Ufuk Seker and Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - Hundreds of journalists staged a protest in Belgium’s capital on Monday against Israel's killing of their colleagues in Gaza and called on media organizations to take action.

Representatives of the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) operating in the UK and Ireland and the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate (PJS) gathered at Schuman Square, where European Union institutions are located.

They carried banners that said "Freedom for Palestinian journalists," "Israel, stop killing journalists in Gaza" and "Journalists in Gaza, we are with you."

The journalists left a cardboard coffin with a press vest in the square and held a moment of silence.

"I am here to support Palestinian journalists and to protest the deliberate targeting and killing of journalists. They are just doing their job. This is unacceptable. Israel must stop. This is a war crime," said NUJ Vice President Sarah Lewis.

IFJ Deputy Secretary General and NUJ Executive Board member Tim Dawson said that media organizations working with journalists in Gaza should take a stand.

"The erosion of freedom of expression in Gaza is shocking. The international press is not allowed into the country, and local press is being killed," said Dawson.

The IFJ issued a statement on the protest, saying that at least 100 journalists and media workers have been killed and many have been injured or are missing since Oct. 7, 2023, when Israel launched its war on Gaza.

"The number of deaths is unprecedented. Targeting journalists who document such violent events is a war crime, and this must stop," said the statement.

Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank since Israel launched a deadly military offensive against the Gaza Strip following an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in which Israel says 1,200 Israelis were killed.

According to Palestinian health authorities, at least 27,478 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 66,835 others injured.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.