GENEVA (26 October 2026) – The killing of Palestinian journalists, Israel’s control of information and distorted coverage by influential Western media and digital platforms form one system that has enabled genocide in Gaza and shielded it from scrutiny, a UN expert said today.

“Genocide is never sustained by killing alone. It requires destroying the conditions in which killing can be seen, documented, remembered and judged” said Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, presenting her report to the General Assembly.

“Israel has eliminated the witnesses, controlled the information, incited hatred and relied on others to repeat its story. The result is what I call ‘mediacide’: the systematic destruction of the media’s public function.”

Since October 2023, Israeli forces have killed nearly 300 journalists, and wounded more than 400, in the deadliest conflict for journalists and media workers in recorded history. Around 70 were killed as reprisal for their work. Some 710 relatives of journalists have been killed, over 100 media workers detained, many brutally tortured, and most of Gaza’s communications infrastructure destroyed. Israel has justified these attacks by branding journalists “terrorists”, often posthumously.

The report finds that these acts constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, and that the systematic elimination of witnesses may be probative of genocidal intent.

“Journalists in Gaza know that documenting the destruction of their own society may cost them their lives, and their families.’ Yet they keep reporting,” Albanese said.

Inside Israel, military censorship has reached record levels, with nearly 2,400 articles banned and more than 11,000 redacted in 2024 and 2025. Foreign journalists remain barred from entry into Gaza, critical outlets have been banned, and the Israeli Government has spent some $50 million on advertisements denying famine. Israeli broadcasters have called for Gaza to be “wiped off the face of the earth” and described Palestinians as “a cancerous growth” that “must be eradicated.”

“When broadcasters call for a people’s annihilation and the State rewards rather than prosecutes them, that is not free speech. It is incitement to genocide, in defiance of a binding order of the International Court of Justice,” she said.

Influential Western media have reproduced Israeli narratives, amplified unverified claims, and omitted historical context and ignored legal frameworks.

Digital platforms have suppressed tens of millions of Palestinian posts while hosting anti-Palestinian hate and profiting from State propaganda.

“Media and technology companies are not passive conduits. In the face of genocide, due diligence is not optional,” Albanese said.

She called on the General Assembly to act to ensure the preservation of evidence of crimes including against journalists, urging States to prosecute attacks on the press, cooperate fully with the International Criminal Court and ensure that Israel releases detained journalists, admits international media to Gaza and rescinds censorship.

“Accountability depends on the survival of the record,” she said. “Palestinian journalists have paid with their lives to keep that record alive. The world owes them its protection – and immediate, principled action.”

Francesca Albanese is the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967

Special Rapporteurs/Independent Experts/Working Groups are independent human rights experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Together, these experts are referred to as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. While the UN Human Rights office acts as the secretariat for Special Procedures, the experts serve in their individual capacity and are independent from any government or organisation, including OHCHR and the UN. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the UN or OHCHR.

Country-specific observations and recommendations by the UN human rights mechanisms, including the special procedures, the treaty bodies and the Universal Periodic Review, can be found on the Universal Human Rights Index https://uhri.ohchr.org/en/

UN Human Rights, country page – Israel

UN Human Rights, country page – Palestine