Reuters’ Palestinian journalist Mohammed Salem poses for a photo as he works on a rooftop in Gaza City, on October 12, 2023. (Photo by Reuters)

At least 20 Palestinian journalists have so far been killed in Israel’s war on the besieged Gaza Strip, a watchdog says.

In a report on Wednesday, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said that since the onset of Israel’s brutal war on the densely-populated coastal enclave on October 7, at least 24 journalists, including 20 Palestinians, three Israeli journalists and one from neighboring Lebanon had been killed.

Journalists in Gaza face particularly high risks as they try to cover the conflict in the face of a ground assault by Israeli troops, devastating Israeli airstrikes, disrupted communications, and extensive power outages, the CPJ further said.

Eight journalists have also been wounded and three others either reported missing or detained, added the watchdog, without providing further details on their identities.

The CPJ stressed that the toll was based on its preliminary investigations and that it is further investigating unconfirmed reports of other journalists being killed, missing, detained, hurt, or threatened.

CPJ emphasizes that journalists are civilians doing important work during times of crisis and must not be targeted by warring parties. Journalists across the region are making great sacrifices to cover this heartbreaking conflict. All parties must take steps to ensure their safety, said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator.

Separately on Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported that one of its Gaza-based reporters, Wael Dahdouh, lost his family members in Israel’s airstrikes on the impoverished sliver, where shortages of food, water, and medicine threaten the lives of Gazans and hospitals are overwhelmed amid incessant Israeli bombings.

Al Jazeera’s brave veteran journalist Wael Dahdouh’s wife, son, and daughter were killed in an Israeli airstrike which targeted a shelter house they had fled to. Wael received the news while on air covering the nonstop Israeli strikes on Gaza, said Al Jazeera’s Managing Editor Mohamed Moawad in a post on X.

As of Thursday, Israel’s airstrikes and missile attacks have killed 7,165 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 18,000 others.