NEW YORK, Feb 25, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - A record 129 journalists and media workers were killed worldwide in 2025, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday, blaming Israel for two-thirds of the deaths.

It was the second consecutive annual record for press deaths and the deadliest year since the CPJ began collecting data more than three decades ago.

"Journalists are being killed in record numbers at a time when access to information is more important than ever," CEO Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement.

"We are all at risk when journalists are killed for reporting the news."

Over three-quarters of all the fatalities in 2025 were in conflict settings, the CPJ said in its report.

More than 60 percent of the 86 members of the press killed by Israeli fire in 2025 were Palestinians reporting from Gaza, it added.

The Israeli military maintains that it never deliberately targets journalists.

The number of journalists killed in Ukraine and Sudan also increased in 2025 compared to a year earlier.

The CPJ highlighted a rise in drones being used, with 39 cases documented, including 28 killings by Israel in Gaza and five by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan.

In Ukraine, four journalists were killed by Russian military drones, the highest annual number of journalist deaths in the war since 15 were killed in 2022.

Journalists are increasingly vulnerable due to a persistent culture of impunity, the CPJ said, noting a lack of transparent investigations into killings.

In Mexico, six journalists were killed in 2025 and all the cases remain unsolved. The Philippines saw three journalists shot dead.

Others were killed following their reporting on corruption, such as a Bangladeshi reporter hacked to death by suspects linked to a fraud ring, according to the CPJ report.

Similar organized crime-related deaths were recorded in India and Peru.

In Saudi Arabia, prominent columnist Turki al-Jasser was executed by the state after being convicted on several charges that the CPJ likened to "spurious national security and financial crime allegations" used to punish reporters.

It was the Gulf state's first documented killing of a journalist since the 2018 death of Jamal Khashoggi.