The Gaza Project

‘Again and Again and Again’

We published the first part of the Gaza Project, an investigative collaboration coordinated by Forbidden Stories, on June 25, 2024. By then, the number of Palestinian journalists killed by the Israeli military in Gaza had reached at least 102, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and more than 140, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS). Record-breaking. Devastating. Enraging. However you count it.

Even for a group of 50 seasoned investigative journalists from 13 news organizations, the scale and frequency of the attacks were overwhelming. There was no way to investigate every case, even though every one of them deserved to be investigated.

Newsrooms and reporters were stretched thin by the enormity of what was happening, not just the attacks on journalists, but also on hospitals, doctors, schools.

In addition to investigating the broader pattern of attacks, we also worked on individual cases.

We knew there was strength in numbers, that a coordinated effort by major news organizations could get the attention of the Israeli military, which sometimes ignores requests from individual outlets. We knew we would get a reply, even if the answers received were incomplete or unsatisfactory.

But we were under no illusion that our investigations, no matter how strong, would lead to real investigations by the army or the government. Israel’s impunity in killing journalists has been thoroughly documented by journalists and human rights organizations. (See CPJ’s Deadly Pattern.)

Irene Khan, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, told us:
 “We need to push for accountability. If impunity prevails, then it will happen again and again and again.”

Still, we knew that our investigations, more than 20, published in numerous outlets in different countries, would bring attention to this crisis and stand as a historical record of the attacks against Palestinian journalists.

Since we published the first part in June, the killing of journalists in Gaza has continued, with 55 journalists killed since then. Aside from a pause during the ceasefire, it became a repeated scene: to find out that a journalist was killed, to see the bodies with the bloodied vest placed over the corpse, to see the colleagues gathered around — usually in the hospital — and the grief and tears of their family members.

Those who remain, in the meantime, in spite of the losses, the fears and the devastation all around them, continue to work nonstop.

So even though we knew in advance that Part Two would probably be no different than Part One, that the likelihood of it leading to major investigations was slim, we had no choice but to keep investigating. We joined forces again: 44 journalists from 12 organizations.

For a period of time while the ceasefire was in effect, no journalist was killed. Until Saturday, March 15.

Mahmoud Isleem al-Basos, was a young, enthusiastic 25-year-old drone journalist who worked with Reuters and Anadolu. On that Saturday, he was filming the opening of an expansion of a displacement camp in the city of Beit Lahia for the London-based Al-Khair Foundation when two Israeli airstrikes hit the area, killing at least seven. Mahmoud was among those killed.

One of the investigations we were working on as part of the Gaza Project was about the targeting of drone journalists. In the spirit of Forbidden Stories: “you can kill the journalist, but you can’t kill the story,” we set out to film drone footage of two devastated areas in Gaza, picking up where others were forced to stop. The images were meant to create the first-ever 3D photogrammetry models of parts of Gaza.

Forbidden Stories hired a young, enthusiastic 25-year-old drone journalist to do the job. His name was Mahmoud Isleem al-Basos.

The attack happened while the ceasefire was still in effect. Israel issued a statement claiming the drone represented a threat to its soldiers and accused the victims of being members of militant groups. It did not name Isleem but referred to someone with a similar name. When our consortium asked for elaboration and evidence, the army replied: “We will not make any further statements.”

“Attempts to smear, delegitimize, and criminalize journalists who are doing their job are outrageous and irresponsible,” said Doja Daoud, CPJ’s Levant Program Coordinator. She noted that CPJ was aware of several cases where Israel accused journalists of being connected to militants and that this is not new, but part of a documented pattern.

On March 24, just days after Israel broke the ceasefire by killing 400 Palestinians in one night, it killed two journalists within an hour: Mohammad Mansour, a correspondent for Palestine Today TV who was deeply loved and respected by fellow journalists across Gaza, and 23-year-old Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent Hossam Shabat, a sharp and articulate journalist we had interviewed at length weeks before for this project.

In our interview with Hossam in December, he said the threats and accusations by the Israeli army were a clear message to stop the coverage. “This vest, this uniform, this helmet — they’ve become just an accusation. The moment you wear them, they shoot at you directly.”

Leaked emails from the Israeli Ministry of Justice, obtained by the non-profit Distributed Denial of Secrets and shared with Forbidden Stories, also show regular exchanges between NGO Monitor and senior ministry officials. These discussions focused on undermining legal efforts by various civil society groups, notably the Norwegian Refugee Council, a European NGO providing legal and humanitarian aid to displaced communities around the world, notably in Palestine.

With Israel banning foreign journalists from entering Gaza unless embedded with its army, Hossam was not just a correspondent for AJ Mubasher — he was a voice for the outside world, reporting from an area few other journalists could reach. That is becoming more and more difficult.

Our consortium submitted a request for Israel to allow our journalists to enter and report from Gaza. While doctors and aid workers have been allowed in, it’s unclear why journalists are banned, especially if they and their news organizations are willing to take on the risk. But Israel has offered no reasonable explanation. As absurd as it is, this is now the reality — and fewer and fewer are questioning it.

In honor of Mahmoud, Mohammad, Hossam, and all the journalists killed in Gaza, we present the investigations of Part Two of the Gaza Project. We hope they offer an examination of key attacks and serve as a renewed call for attention, for action, for accountability.

On October 9, 2024, Al Jazeera cameraman Fadi al-Wahidi was shot in the neck while reporting from Jabalia, in what journalists say was a direct drone attack. He was wearing a press vest and reporting from a "yellow" zone, which was outside the red evacuation area marked by the Israeli military the day before.

This investigation includes a full 3D reconstruction of the scene, a 10-minute video breaking down the events of that day, and geolocation confirming the journalists' position. It features testimonies from nearly all the journalists present, medical records, expert forensic analysis, and a video filmed by al-Wahidi himself seconds before he was shot. Fadi was interviewed twice, once in Gaza and again in Cairo before he was transferred to Doha.

This is the first part of a two-part investigation into the killing of Palestinian drone journalists. It documents six cases: five killed, one injured. Abdallah el-Hajj, who lost both legs, survived and was interviewed for this story.

In nearly every case, the journalists were targeted shortly after filming with a drone. Israel accused several of having ties to militant groups but provided no substantiated evidence. All six are listed by the Committee to Protect Journalists 

This piece and project documents the massive destruction in the Gaza Strip through the first 3D reconstruction published since the start of the war, based on drone footage filmed by journalist Mahmoud al-Basos before he was killed by the Israeli army. Using advanced photogrammetry technology, Bellingcat created interactive models of two of the most devastated areas: Jabalia and al Shati refugee camps, allowing viewers to navigate the ruins and see the scale of devastation as documented by Gaza’s drone journalists.

The technique used is called photogrammetry, a process that stitches together hundreds of overlapping images, identifying shared points and calculating the camera’s position for each shot to build accurate 3D models of real-world places. Unlike still photos or satellite images, these models allow viewers to navigate through the ruins, observe patterns of destruction, and see the environment as Gaza’s drone journalists once did. The work was coordinated by Forbidden Stories, in the spirit of continuing the work of those who can no longer do so.

Despite years of international outcry, no Israeli soldier has ever been held accountable for killing a journalist. The cases of Yasser Murtaja, Shireen Abu Akleh, and Samer Abu Daqqa, all wearing clearly marked press gear when they were shot by Israeli forces, remain unresolved. Since 2001, at least 200 journalists have been killed by Israeli fire. Not a single prosecution has followed.

The Gaza Project’s investigation reveals that Israel’s internal accountability mechanism, the Fact-Finding Assessment, routinely closes cases without action. Only 0.17% of complaints have resulted in prosecution. Meanwhile, legal experts and leaked government documents show that these mechanisms are also used to shield the state from international courts like the ICC.

The investigation also exposes a coordinated effort by Israeli ministries and civil society allies to defund or discredit organizations seeking accountability, part of a broader crackdown on press freedom and human rights work.

This investigation was completed with support from ARIJ