The genocide through their eyes

Two years on from Hamas’ October 7 attack and the start of Israel’s onslaught on Gaza, the vast majority of the enclave lies in ruins. Israel’s aerial bombardment, ground invasion, and hermetic blockade of the territory, which long predates the latest offensive, have decimated Gaza’s population, its infrastructure, and its social fabric, amounting to the crime of genocide.

As the Israeli military continues to bomb the Strip in what it euphemistically describes as “enforcement” of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire, the official death toll has surpassed 68,000. Multiple recent studies suggest the true figure could be many tens of thousands higher. Hospitals — those that have not been destroyed beyond repair — are struggling to treat the wounded, the hungry, and the sick who survived amid severe shortages of everything from anesthesia to clean water.

Throughout all of this death and devastation, there has been one constant: the presence of Palestinian journalists on the ground reporting on every massacre, land grab, and war crime. With Israel barring the international media from entering Gaza, these journalists have served as the world’s window into the genocide. Over 250 have been killed, many of them directly targeted because of their work, making this the deadliest conflict for the press since the Committee to Protect Journalists began collecting data almost half a century ago.