Friends and colleagues of two Palestinian journalists, Hasouna Slim and Sari Mansoor, killed in an Israeli strike, mourn over their bodies during their funeral in Deir al-Balah in southern Gaza, on November 19, 2023. (AFP)

Another Palestinian journalist, Mamdouh Ibrahim Qanaita, has been killed by "Israel" in Gaza, the Government Media Office announced, bringing the death toll to 191 journalists deliberately killed by the occupation since October 7.

Qanaita worked as an editor for the al-Quds television channel.

An Israeli drone has reportedly targeted and killed journalist Mamdouh Qanaita while performing his duty in the courtyard of the Maamadani Hospital.

🚨 Journalist Mamdouh Qanaita ascended to martyrdom after being targeted by the occupation's drones while performing his journalistic duties in the courtyard of the Baptist Hospital in #Gaza City.
Mamdouh is the 191th journalist to be martyred in the Gaza Strip since October 7,… pic.twitter.com/DcK5xGKwwW
— The Observer Resist🔻 (@T_observeresist) November 30, 2024

Simultaneously, the Gaza Media Office issued a statement denouncing the occupation's targeting of Palestinian journalists, urging the international community to hold "Israel" accountable for "crimes against journalists."

The statement also called on the international community, international organizations, and media and journalism organizations to “deter the occupying Tel Aviv regime, pursue it in international courts for its ongoing crimes, and pressure it to stop the genocide and the killing and assassination of Palestinian journalists.”

Journalists reporting on the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip face increasing risks when on duty, including Israeli ground operations and airstrikes, disrupted communication lines, supply shortages, and power outages.

Journalists killed in Gaza ‘more than double’ annual global average

The number of Palestinian journalists murdered in Israeli assaults in the Gaza Strip in one year is more than double the global average, the Palestinian press union reported last month.

In a statement commemorating International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate stated the figure of killed journalists in Gaza "is more than double the number of journalists killed annually around the world," according to the statement.

The syndicate emphasized that the continued massacres and targeting of journalists "will not go unpunished" as they aim to "eliminate witnesses of the truth" in what they called the largest and most ruthless massacre against journalists in the history of global media.

At the time, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay stated that 900 journalists had been slain globally since 2013, with an average of 82 journalists each year, which amounts to less than half the number of Palestinian journalists killed by "Israel" in Gaza.

The syndicate urged nations and organizations worldwide to "take urgent measures and decisions to establish binding and deterrent legal mechanisms to hold accountable and prosecute the murderers of journalists, ensuring they do not escape punishment."

Gaza journalists 'killed at a level unseen in any conflict': Guterres

In a message to the UN International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East 2024 in Geneva in November, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the Israeli army's killing of journalists in Gaza "unacceptable" and demanded that they be protected from the genocide perpetrated by "Israel".

He noted that the war on Gaza finished its first year last month and that this symposium is being held under "profoundly difficult circumstances" owing to violations extending to Lebanon.

Guterres emphasized that the deteriorating situation in the occupied West Bank, including the eastern part of al-Quds, Israeli violence, settlement construction, and increased settler attacks all undermine the possibility of achieving a two-state solution.

The Secretary-General attacked "Israel's" prolonged prohibition on international media visiting Gaza, stating that journalists in Gaza "have been killed at a level unseen in any conflict."

He noted that journalists in the occupied West Bank have also been murdered or maimed by Israeli forces, reiterating his call for an end to the Israeli attacks and occupation and saying it is "high time" for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon along with the release of captives and delivery of humanitarian aid.