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Gaza deadliest place for journalists and aid workers: UNRWA chief

Monday, 26 January 2026 7:03 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 26 January 2026 7:03 PM ]

Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General in Ankara, Turkey on January 8, 2026.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has warned that Gaza has become the world’s deadliest place for journalists and humanitarian workers, with more than 230 journalists killed in the besieged territory.

“Together with humanitarian workers they have paid a heavy ultimate price. More than 230 of them have been killed. Gaza is the deadliest place in the world to be a journalist, just as it is the deadliest place to be a humanitarian worker,” UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement.

Lazzarini cautioned that continued restrictions and attacks are undermining efforts to document events and deliver aid.

He argued that blocking international journalists from entering Gaza fuels misinformation, polarizes narratives, and weakens the international community’s understanding of the humanitarian crisis.

The UNRWA chief also stressed that attacks on journalists and humanitarian personnel constitute serious violations of international law.

He called for freedom of access for the media, protection of journalists, and the removal of restrictions that prevent media organizations from carrying out their work safely.

Since the outbreak of the war, international journalists have been barred from entering Gaza independently, a restriction Lazzarini called “overdue” to lift.

Last Wednesday, Gaza’s government media office reported that the number of journalists killed since the start of the Israel's genocidal war had risen to 260.

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Earlier this month, the Foreign Press Association (FPA) sharply condemned Israeli authorities for maintaining their ban on foreign media access to the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by two years of Israel’s genocidal war.

The FPA, representing hundreds of international journalists working in the occupied Palestinian territories, said on Tuesday that Israel’s continued refusal to allow independent reporting from Gaza is “profoundly disappointing.”

A report released last month by the Freedoms Committee of Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) found that Israeli attacks have killed at least 706 family members of Palestinian journalists since the war began.

The report detailed repeated strikes on journalists’ homes, shelters for displaced families, and areas widely known to house media workers and their relatives. In several cases, entire families were wiped out, leaving surviving journalists to document the destruction of their own households.

Rights groups warn that Israel’s media ban, combined with the unprecedented toll on Palestinian journalists, has created one of the most dangerous reporting environments in modern history.

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