Muslim News Nigeria has joined international press organisations in condemning the killing of journalists covering the ongoing Israeli genocidal war on Gaza, saying that the perpetrators of the heinous crimes must not go unpunished.
In a statement issued on Saturday, September 6, publisher of the faith-based media outlet, Rasheed Abubakar, decried what he called Israel’s “relentless aggression” which has brought catastrophic destruction to Gaza, affecting children, women, journalists, humanitarian workers, and the elderly.
“As of September 1, no fewer than 278 journalists and media workers have been killed since October 2023. Statistics show that 273 are Palestinians, three Lebanese, and two Israelis, while many others have been badly wounded in the renewed Israeli war on Gaza,” Abubakar said.
The publisher, who also participated in Aqsa Day 2025 — a pro-Palestine solidarity campaign held at Daw’ah Centre, Lagos, on Friday, September 5 — accused Israel of deliberately targeting journalists in an attempt to cover up its war crimes.
Thousands of demonstrators who participated in the solidarity rally carried placards reading “Free Palestine,” “Stop Gaza Genocide,” and “Stop Killing Journalists in Gaza.” Many of the displays bore images of journalists killed during the 23 months conflict.
Abubakar stressed that the world must act collectively to end impunity for crimes committed by Israel against Palestinian journalists and bring the killers of babies and women and their collaborators to justice.
According to him, “The Israeli regime has caused untold hardship for the people of Gaza with starvation and deprivation of access to health, education, and water facilities,” the statement read, adding “In the last 23 months, the regime has deliberately been targeting journalists and subjecting them to intimidation and denial of their basic needs. This is unacceptable.”
Muslim News Nigeria criticised Western powers for what it described as double standards and silence in the face of Israel’s continuous killing of journalists in Gaza, contrasting it with the swift condemnation often directed at other nations accused of violating press freedom.
While commending journalists and international media organizations including the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) for standing up for their colleagues in Gaza, the medium also berated those who kept criminal silence in the face of the ongoing genocide.
“We owe our colleagues who have fallen in the hands of this murderous regime this duty,” Abubakar declared, adding that, “Journalists are the conscience of society. Any country that makes life unbearable for journalists is unconscionable,” he added.
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