Journalists in Gaza to Receive 2026 Golden Pen of Freedom Award

The citation states that journalists in Gaza have recorded death, destruction and human suffering for over two and a half years. It adds that they are both victims of the conflict and chroniclers of events around them. The award ceremony will take place in Marseille during WAN-IFRA's 2026 World News Media Congress, which runs from Monday to Wednesday.

AFP photographer Mohammed Abed, who worked in Gaza until April 2024, is scheduled to attend.

The Israeli government has barred foreign journalists from independently entering Gaza since the war began after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack. Local Palestinian journalists have continued reporting inside the territory. Media rights group Reporters Without Borders says Israeli forces have killed more than 220 journalists since October 2023, with at least 70 killed while performing professional duties.

The Israeli army maintains it has never deliberately targeted journalists and has stated that some individuals it killed were militants operating under the cover of media credentials.

The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 killed 1,221 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data. Israel's subsequent military campaign has killed more than 72,800 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

An October ceasefire remains in place, yet both the Israeli military and Hamas continue to accuse each other of violations amid ongoing strikes.