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United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestine Francesca Albanese said Israel has killed about 300 journalists and media workers in Gaza since October 2023, most of them Palestinian, and later labeled some of them as "terrorists."

Speaking at UN headquarters in New York at a briefing on the humanitarian and human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, Albanese also described accelerating displacement in the West Bank and criticized the UN response to the crisis.

Concerns about the UN response

Albanese said the rapporteur was worried that many UN officials "downplay" the situation. The clearest example of that failure, Albanese said, was the abandonment of UNRWA, the UN agency that serves as a lifeline for millions of Palestinian refugees and the backbone of humanitarian work in Gaza.

Key takeaways

• UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine Francesca Albanese says about 300 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023.
• Cameramen were hit in double-tap strikes and some reporters were labeled "terrorists" after their deaths, according to Albanese.
• Foreign journalists have been barred from entering the area for three years, the rapporteur said.
• Albanese called the siege of Mesafir Yatta communities in Hebron "collective punishment" and criticized the abandonment of UNRWA.