Leadership of the Croatian Journalists’ Association (CJA) and the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists’ (TUCJ) organized a vigil on Monday in front of the Journalists’ Home and lit candles for journalists killed in Gaza, emphasizing that “journalists and civilians are not wartime targets.” Simultaneously, numerous colleagues lit candles in memory of journalists killed in Gaza in Osijek, Rijeka, Šibenik, Split, and other cities.
In this manner, they joined the action of the International Federation of Journalists, which was simultaneously held in Brussels.
According to current data, as of October 7, 2023, at least 99 journalists have been killed in Gaza. The vast majority are Palestinian journalists, 92 of them. Four Israeli and three Lebanese colleagues also lost their lives while performing their duties, and we mourn their lost lives equally, emphasized representatives of CJA and TUCJ.
“Nearly a hundred people, our colleagues, have been killed since the beginning of the war. We are not silent observers; we know, we see, we listen, and we send our solidarity and support to the people who are fighting in that area to bring the truth to the public,” said Maja Sever, President of the European Federation of Journalists and TUCJ. She also added that journalists and civilians must not be targets and called for a ceasefire, an end to killings, and bloodshed in Gaza.
“With this symbolic act from Zagreb and Croatia, we send a message of solidarity to the families of our slain colleagues who, regardless of nationality and faith, perish every day while performing their duties,” said CJA President Hrvoje Zovko. He also said that journalists in Gaza were deliberately targeted and added that it is difficult to believe they were accidentally killed, given the horrific number of casualties.
Branko Mijić, a member of the CJA Executive Board, said that “a hundred journalists in Gaza were killed, or deliberately eliminated, and their only sin was that they wanted to tell the truth about the genocide being carried out under the guise of fighting terrorism.”
Leadership of CJA and TUCJ lit candles in front of the memorial plaque for cameramen, journalists, and technicians killed in the Homeland War, in memory of the journalists killed in Gaza.