Israel’s Strike on Yemen Newspaper Offices Was ‘Deadliest Global Attack’ on Journalists in 16 Years: Press Freedom Group

Israel's airstrikes on a media complex in Yemen last week resulted in the largest single attack on journalists the world has seen in 16 years, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

In a report released Friday, the group said that 31 journalists from two government-run newspapers based in Sana'a were killed in the strikes on September 10, along with four others, including one child.

Nasser Al-Khadri, editor-in-chief of the newspaper 26 September, called the attack on his newsroom an "unprecedented massacre of journalists."

"It is a brutal and unjustified attack that targeted innocent people whose only crime was working in the media field, armed with nothing but their pens and words,” Al-Khadri told the CPJ.

According to CPJ, it was the second-largest attack on the press they've ever recorded, and the worst since 2009, when 32 journalists were massacred as part of a political ambush in the Philippines.

The Israeli government has often defended its attacks on civilian infrastructure by claiming that it houses militants. But in these strikes, the IDF's media desk acknowledged that it was targeting what it referred to as the "Public Relations Department" for the Houthis, also known as Ansar-Allah.

Shortly after Israel's genocidal war in Gaza began in 2023, the militant group, which controls large parts of Yemen, began to launch drone and missile strikes against shipping vessels in the Red Sea and directly against Israel in what they have described as an effort to support Palestinians under fire. They have said they will stop these attacks when Israel reaches an agreement with Hamas to end the war in Gaza.

Israel has repeatedly bombed Yemen in recent weeks, including launching a strike on its main airport and large amounts of civilian infrastructure. On the same day it bombed the media complex, it also hit residential areas in Sana'a as well as a medical facility.

In a post on X, the official account for the Israel Defense Forces justified striking the newspapers by saying that they are "responsible for distributing and disseminating propaganda messages in the media, including speeches by Houthi leader Abdul-Malik and statements from spokesman Yahya Saree." For this reason, Israel described the journalists as "military targets."

But the CPJ says that "as civilians, journalists are protected under international law, including those working for state-run or armed group-affiliated outlets, unless they take direct part in hostilities."

Niku Jafarnia, a Bahrain and Yemen researcher for Human Rights Watch, explained in more detail on Monday:

Radio and television facilities are civilian objects and cannot be targeted. They are legitimate targets only if they are used in a way that makes an “effective contribution to military action.” However, civilian broadcasting facilities are not rendered legitimate military targets simply because they are pro-Houthi or anti-Israel, or report on the laws of war violations by one side or the other, as this does not directly contribute to military operations.

Al-Khadri said that Israel's strikes hit his newsroom around 4:45 pm, right when staff were finishing up the publication of the weekly paper.

Mohammed al-Basha, a Yemen analyst, noted that “Since it is a weekly publication, not a daily one, staff were gathered at the publishing house to prepare for distribution, significantly increasing the number of people present in the compound."

The CPJ classified the 31 journalists killed in the strike as having been "murdered" by Israel, meaning that they were deliberately targeted specifically for their work. Over the past decade, the group says, 1 in 6 of the world's murdered journalists have been killed by Israel.

While estimates from different groups vary, Israel's war in Gaza is considered by far the deadliest conflict in the world for journalists, with more killed than any other conflict in the world combined. In August, the CPJ reported that 192 journalists, nearly all Palestinians, have been killed since October 7, 2023, while other groups put the death toll even higher.

In attacks last month that drew similar worldwide condemnation, Israel conducted what was described as a "double tap" strike on Khan Younis' Nasser Hospital aimed at killing first responders who arrived after the first strike. Twenty people were killed in total, including rescue workers and at least five journalists.

Not long before, Israel carried out the targeted assassination of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif and five other journalists, claiming without evidence that they were part of "a Hamas terrorist cell.”

“Since October 7, 2023, Israel has emerged as a regional killer of journalists, with repeated incidents in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, and now Yemen confirming Israel’s longstanding pattern of labeling journalists as terrorists or propagandists to justify their killings,” said CPJ regional program leaderSara Qudah.

“Israel’s September 10 strikes on two newspaper offices in Yemen marks an alarming escalation, extending Israel’s war on journalism far beyond the genocide in Gaza," Qudah said. "This latest killing spree is not only a grave violation of international law, but also a terrifying warning to journalists across the region: no place is safe.”