Israel has been accused of carrying out a “massacre” of journalists in Gaza in two separate reports from media freedom organisations this week that analysed the deaths of reporters worldwide this year, AFP reports.

According to calculations from Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published, the Israeli army killed 18 journalists as they were working this year — 16 in Gaza and two in Lebanon — around a third of the total worldwide of 54.

“Palestine is the most dangerous country for journalists, recording a higher death toll than any other country over the past five years,” RSF said in its annual report, which covers data up to December 1.

The organisation has filed four complaints with the International Criminal Court (ICC) for “war crimes committed against journalists by the Israeli army”. It said that in total “more than 145” journalists had been killed by the Israeli army in Gaza since the start of the war there in October 2023, with 35 of them working at the time of their deaths.