Amnesty International UK drew criticism after arguing in a Tuesday post on X/Twitter that no conflict in modern history had seen a higher number of journalists killed than the one in Gaza.
“The targeted killing of Anas al-Sharif and five other journalists on Sunday means at least 242 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of October 2023. No conflict in modern history has seen a higher number of journalists killed,” the post stated, citing United Nations data for the Gaza figure.
The post included a graphic comparing journalist deaths across multiple conflicts. According to the image, 69 journalists were killed during World War II (1939–1945), and 63 during the Vietnam War (1955–1975).
The figures Amnesty International UK used were numbers that UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric had told the press during a media briefing. "At least 242 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the war began nearly three years ago," Dujarric said on Tuesday.
The post drew criticism online, including from Avi Izenberg of NGO Honest Reporting, who pointed to the killing of over 1,400 journalists during the Holocaust.
“Disgusting erasure of 1,425 journalists documented by Yad Vashem killed in the Holocaust. There was a massive Yiddish press in Europe at the time erased by the Nazis,” Izenberg wrote in response, citing records from Yad Vashem’s Shoah Names Database.
A screenshot shared by Izenberg showed search results for individuals listed as journalists murdered during the Holocaust, totaling 1,425 entries.
The Jerusalem Post found 1,408 journalists and newspaper editors were killed during the Holocaust in an independent search on Yad Vashem's database.
The 69 figure comes from a count compiled by Ray Moseley, a former war correspondent, according to Newsweek. It includes reporters covering the Allied campaign during World War II, and factors in journalists who died in accidents or from disease.
Amnesty International UK has not publicly responded to the criticism as of publication.
Israeli military kills Hamas terrorist doubling as Al Jazeera reporter
The IDF killed Anas Al-Sharif, a Hamas terrorist who also worked as an Al Jazeera correspondent inside the Gaza Strip, on Sunday.
He was killed along with five other individuals, including a second reporter, Mohammed Qreiqeh, according to Al Jazeera. Three cameramen were killed as well, according to the Qatari site, named as Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa.
Al-Sharif was responsible for advancing rocket attacks and served as a member of Hamas since 2013, the IDF said.