PROTESTORS will take to the streets this Saturday to highlight the large number of journalists killed by Israel in their war on Gaza.

The protest will start at Writer's Square and will include a wide number of solidarity organisations including Trades Union Friends of Palestine, Mothers against Genocide, Artists against Genocide, Cairde Palestine and Jews for Palestine Ireland.

It is also supported by local politicians including Cllr Ryan Carlin of Sinn Féin, MLA Gerry Carroll of PBP and Claire Hanna MP of SDLP who will be speaking at the rally alongside keynote speaker Gerry Murphy, Assistant General Secretary of ICTU.

The marchers plan to highlight the sheer number of journalists who have been killed during Israel's armed campaign in Gaza. 117 journalists have been killed so far, an average of more than one per day.

To date, more journalists have been killed in Gaza in just over 100 days than were killed throughout the entirety of WWII and also the Vietnam War where 63 were killed in 20 years.

Israel denies that it is targeting journalists and yet, on assignment for Al Jazeera, Hamza Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria were killed, and a third journalist wounded when an airstrike hit their car. Dahdouh was the eldest son of Al Jazeera bureau chief in Gaza, Wael Dahdouh, whose wife, two other children and a grandson were killed by a previous Israeli strike in October.

Brian Geraghty for the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) Belfast branch highlighted a report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and said: "Journalists in Gaza have paid and continue to pay, an unprecedented toll and face exponential threats. Many have lost colleagues, families and media facilities and have fled seeking safety when there is no safe haven or exit.”

CPJ’s own research found journalists have been targeted through airstrikes, assaults, prison, threats, cyberattacks, and censorship, describing the recent period as the most deadly for journalists since its records began in 1992.