The Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA) mourns the devastating loss of dozens of Yemeni journalists killed in Israeli airstrikes on Sanaa on September 10, 2025. Reports from Human Rights Watch and the Associated Press confirm that media workers were among at least 35 civilians killed when Israeli forces struck a media center in the capital. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 31 journalists and media workers died in the attack, making it the single deadliest assault on the press worldwide since 2009.
The targeting of media facilities and the killing of journalists is a grave violation of international humanitarian law. Civilian broadcasting centers and press offices are protected objects and cannot be treated as military targets simply because their reporting is unfavorable to one side of a conflict. As Human Rights Watch has noted, claims that a media facility was used for military purposes do not, on their own, make it a legitimate target.
Journalists in Yemen have long faced repression and threats from armed groups and political authorities. This attack further endangers press freedom and the right to information, extending a pattern of violence against journalists across the region.
We further call on media institutions to amplify the voices of Yemeni journalists, who continue to work under extraordinary risk to report the news.
Press freedom is not a privilege. It is a protected right under international law. The killing of journalists in Yemen cannot be allowed to become normalized.