In Palestine, journalistic integrity isn’t derived from AP or the New York Times. It is grounded in the faithfulness of Palestinian journalists to their people and to the truth of their reality. That is why Israel is killing them.

The genocide brought Palestinian journalists closer together and created a collective with a single, unified mission: to tell the truth about what’s happening in Gaza. That is why Israel is assassinating them.

The Israeli army killed Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif and five of his colleagues in a targeted strike on a journalists’ tent outside al-Shifa Hospital. The attack has effectively wiped out all of Al Jazeera’s staff in Gaza City.

The FBI visited U.S. journalist Ken Klippenstein’s home after he published the embassy shooting suspect’s so called manifesto. The intimidation of the journalist is part of the wider Trump crackdown on speech and the pro-Palestine movement.

The Israeli army killed my colleague Hassan Eslayeh in his hospital bed. He predicted his death before it happened, because he knew journalists in Gaza are the only people in the world bearing witness to the greatest crime of our times.

Sometimes I wonder if journalism is as pointless as politics. But when I speak to families in Gaza, I am reminded that in the face of global indifference, there is a duty, even if just to my own conscience, to try and change this horrible reality.

Hossam Shabat and Mohammad Mansour were the latest Palestinian journalists to be assassinated in Gaza. Responsibility for their killings rests in part on their Western colleagues who have failed to accurately cover Israel’s genocidal assault.

There is a well-established pattern of Israeli forces targeting Palestinian journalists. We must break this cycle of impunity by transparently investigating Israel’s crimes.

The Israeli genocide on Gaza has made being a journalist a deadly job. But even the most mundane aspects of journalism, like tracking people down to interview, have become a monumental task in the face of mass displacement and mass destruction.

Ever since I could remember, I wanted to be a journalist. I wanted to practice journalism in Palestine, and about Palestine. I never doubted that through journalism I can help Palestine and the world be a better place, until last year.