Front Line Defenders documents the killing of 31 Palestinian human rights defenders, many by Israeli airstrikes
Published by Brent Patterson on May 18, 2025
Photo: Palestinian journalist Hassan Hamad was killed by an Israeli drone airstrike in October 2024. In this photo, the 19-year-old journalist carries the photo of his colleagues Ismael al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi who were killed in July 2024.
The Dublin-based organization Front Line Defenders (the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders) has documented the killing of 31 Palestinian human rights defenders in 2023 and 2024.
The numbers are undoubtedly higher. Front Line Defenders notes: “In some regions and countries, including Palestine, the documentation of cases is highly challenging, if not virtually impossible.” They clearly state, however, that “those defending the right to health and the right to life as doctors, nurses, or ambulance workers, those exposing and documenting war crimes as journalists, and those providing humanitarian support as volunteers or employees of aid agencies were all specifically targeted by Israeli bombs or guns.”
The transnational corporations arming the Israeli military include BAE Systems (artillery cannons and electronic missile launching systems), Boeing (attack helicopters and bombs), Colt (assault rifles), Elbit (drones, bombs and artillery shells), General Dynamics (F-16 fighter jets, bomb casings and artillery shells), Google (cloud services and AI technologies), Lockheed Martin (F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, Hellfire missiles), Rheinmetall (tank ammunition), and RTX/Raytheon (air-to-surface missiles).
At least 9 Palestinian HRDs killed in 2023
In their Global Analysis 2023/24 report, Front Line Defenders documented the killing of nine Palestinian human rights defenders in 2023.
Of those on this list, journalist Saeed al-Taweel and Mohammed Sobh were killed by Israeli warplanes that struck an area housing several media outlets in Rimal district in western Gaza on October 9, 2023.
Dr. Mahmoud Abu Nujaila, Dr. Ahmad Al Sahar and Dr. Zeyad Tatari were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Al Awda Hospital on November 21, 2023.
Journalist Bilal Jadallah was also killed in an airstrike. Journalist Samer Abu Daqqa was killed in what is believed to be an Israeli drone strike. And photojournalist Mohammad Al-Salhi and journalist Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi were shot and killed by soldiers.
At least 22 Palestinian HRDs killed in 2024.
In their Global Analysis 2024/25 report released earlier this month, Front Line Defenders documented the killing of twenty-two more human rights defenders.
Five of the names on this list; paramedic Abdul Majid Abu Al-Eish, pediatrician Dr Ahmad Samour, paramedic Maher Al-Ajrami, hospital maintenance worker Fares Al-Houdali and laboratory specialist Israa Abu Zayda were killed by an Israeli airstrike on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza on December 26, 2024.
Journalist Ahmed Al-Louh, camera operator Hamza Murtaja, and photojournalist Mohammed Abu Saada were also killed in airstrikes.
Drone strikes also took the lives of journalists Ismail Al Ghoul, Mohammed Balousha, Hamza al Dahdouh, Hassan Hamad, video journalist Mustafa Thuraya, camera operator Rami Al Refee, and Dr. Ahmed Al-Kahlout.
Fire from Israeli tanks killed journalist Ibrahim Muhareb and orthopedic surgeon Dr Sayeed Joudeh in separate incidents. Dr. Ahmad al-Maqadmeh was shot by soldiers, while Dr. Ziad Mohammed al-Dalou and Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh died in prison.
Non-violent activist and elder Ziad Abu Hlail was reportedly beaten to death, while Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, a volunteer peace activist with the anti-occupation International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was killed by a sniper.
Not included on this list are Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) lawyers Nour Abu Al-Nour and Dana Yaghi who were killed in airstrikes.
Palestinian HRDs killed in 2025
Next year’s list could include Ihab Marwan Kamal Faisal of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) who was killed in an airstrike on January 16, 2025. It could also include photojournalist Fatima Hassouna who was killed in an airstrike after “she spent the past 18 months documenting airstrikes, the demolition of her home, the endless displacement and the killing of 11 family members.”
UN Special Rapporteurs
On February 23, 2024, thirteen United Nations Special Rapporteurs along with several Independent Experts and Working Group members issued a statement, endorsed by others including the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders Mary Lawlor, that says: “Any transfer of weapons or ammunition to Israel that would be used in Gaza is likely to violate international humanitarian law and must cease immediately.”
In a collective statement from teams in Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and numerous other countries around the world, the Brussels, Belgium-based Peace Brigades International has called “on the international community to suspend the supply of arms to Israel and the armed groups involved in the conflict.”
Numerous PBI accompanied organizations, defenders and communities, including the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), have also called for an end to occupation and genocide.
COPINH social media post:
“From Lenca territory in Honduras we raise our voices for life, dignity and freedom for Palestine: Enough of genocide! Enough of occupation! Free Palestine! Through our voices, our actions and our collective organization, we will continue to accompany the Palestinian cause, raising the truth in the face of disinformation and building internationalist solidarity. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! Long live the resistance of the peoples!”
