New York, New York - A record number of journalists were killed in 2024, according to a report released on Wednesday by US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), with Israel's assault on Gaza accounting for nearly two-thirds of the total.

"The toll of conflict on the press is most glaring in the unprecedented number of journalists and media workers killed in the Israel-Gaza war, 85 in 2024, and 78 in 2023."

Israel has carried out an "unprecedented massacre" of journalists since launching its US-sponsored assault on Gaza, according to Reporters Without Borders, and faces widespread accusations of genocide.

The organization said the number of conflicts globally had doubled in the past five years.

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"All of the 2024 killings point to the increased dangers facing reporters and media workers – and the threat that poses to the flow of information worldwide."

Outside the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, CPJ documented the killing of 39 other journalists and media workers in 16 nations, with the deadliest being Sudan, Pakistan, Mexico, Syria, Myanmar, Iraq, and Haiti.

It is the highest toll since the CPJ began collecting data more than three decades ago. The previous record was 113 journalists killed in 2007 during the US invasion of Iraq.

"Conditions can grow more lethal for the press when those who kill journalists are not held to account. And fewer journalists means less information for citizens seeking the truth," the CPJ warned.

Of those killed last year, 43 were freelancers – 31 of them in Gaza – "another grim new record for self-employed members of the press who often face the most danger because they have the fewest resources," the CPJ said.

Under international humanitarian law, journalists are considered civilians and targeting them in a conflict is a war crime.