Palestinian journalist leaves Gaza as “becoming a target”

Sami Al Ajrami, a renowned Palestinian journalist who has been covering Gaza for over 10 years, has left the Strip for fear of being killed, he tells the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. Al Ajrami was the only journalist left covering the conflict in Gaza for the Italian press and said he had good reason to think that as a journalist he was becoming a target. He decided to leave three weeks ago and used up all his savings to obtain a visa through Hala, an agency that coordinates trips to Egypt. At least 97 journalists have been killed since the war in Gaza started, the single biggest death toll for journalists in a conflict zone since the Committee to Protect Journalists began gathering data in 1992. Forty-five journalists have been reported injured, missing or arrested, alongside reports of multiple assaults, threats, cyberattacks, censorship and the killing of journalists’ family members.