Israel destroys Press House building in Gaza: reports

Israel has destroyed the independent Press House building west of Gaza City, an incubator for journalists and media persons, according to local media reports.

At dawn on Saturday, the partial Israeli withdrawal from several areas west of Gaza City revealed the destruction of the Press House, an independent, non-profit, non-representative Palestinian media institution.

It was established in 2013 at the initiative of “a group of independent journalists in an effort to promote freedom of opinion and expression, support independent media, and provide legal protection for journalists in Palestine,” as stated on its website.

During its work, the institution sought to “provide an incubator for independent Palestinian media to promote freedom of opinion and expression by developing the professional performance of journalists in Palestine."

In addition, the institution established "a network of media professionals, intellectuals, writers, and defenders of media freedom and human rights.”

In November, the Israeli army killed its director, Bilal Jadallah, by directly bombing his vehicle in Gaza City.

Removing the Palestinian narrative

Local and international human rights organisations say Israel targets media institutions and journalists in order to remove the Palestinian narrative from the forefront.

Since the beginning of the Israeli war on October 7, Israel has killed 124 journalists and media professionals in different areas of Gaza, according to data from the government media office.

The number of journalists who lost their lives as a result of the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza exceeded the total number of journalists killed in the world in 2021 and 2022.

Israel launched its deadly offensive on Gaza, which has killed nearly 28,000 Palestinians, following a surprise attack by Hamas. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the initial attack.

The Israeli bombardment has left 85 percent of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while much of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.