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. These journalists were gathered to prepare the weekly newspaper when the strike occurred.
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 don’t, on their own, make it a legitimate target. Civilian sites are protected unless there is verified proof to the contrary and even then, attacks must minimise civilian harm.
Journalists in Yemen have long faced repression and threats from the Houthis and the Southern Transitional Council (STC). Now, they are also being targeted by Israeli airstrikes, further endangering press freedom and the right to information. This attack echoes a broader pattern of Israeli forces deliberately targeting journalists in Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, and now Yemen.
AMEJA calls on the international community, press freedom organizations, and governments worldwide to demand accountability and to pressure Israel to immediately end the targeting of journalists across the region. We further call on media institutions to amplify the voices of Yemeni journalists, who continue to work under extraordinary danger to do what their colleagues around the world do every day: report the news.
Press freedom is not a privilege. It is a protected right under international law and Israel must be held to account. The killing of journalists in Yemen cannot be allowed to become the new normal.
Note: This statement references reporting from Human Rights Watch, Committee to Protect Journalists, and the Associated Press.