Reuters Journalist Quits, Cites "Deep Shame" Over "Betrayal" In Gaza

A Canadian photojournalist has quit Reuters, accusing the news agency of "enabling" Israeli attacks on journalists in Gaza. Valerie Zink, who worked as a Reuters stringer for eight years, announced her resignation on social media, sharing an image of her press card cut in half.

"At this point, I can't conceive of wearing this press pass with anything but deep shame and grief," Ms Zink wrote on Facebook.

She said the agency was complicit in a "betrayal of journalists" through its coverage of the Israeli war in Gaza.

"It's become impossible for me to maintain a relationship with Reuters given its role in justifying and enabling the systematic assassination of 245 journalists in Gaza. I owe my colleagues in Palestine at least this much, and so much more," Ms Zink wrote.

Citing Reuters' reporting on the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif earlier this month, she accused the agency of repeating "baseless" Israeli claims that he was affiliated with Hamas.

Anas Al-Sharif, a Pulitzer Prize winner for work published by Reuters, appealed for protection after being publicly threatened by the Israeli military before his death.

"The fact that Anas Al-Sharif's work won a Pulitzer Prize for Reuters did not compel them to come to his defence when Israeli occupation forces placed him on a 'hit list' of journalists accused of being Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants," she said.

Ms Zink also referred to Monday's strike on Nasser Hospital in Gaza, where another five journalists, including Reuters cameraman Hossam Al-Masri, were killed. She described it as a "double tap" strike, an attack on a civilian target followed by a second strike after rescue teams and journalists arrived.

Quoting journalist Jeremy Scahill, Ms Zink argued that major Western outlets, "from the New York Times to Reuters", acted as "a conveyor belt for Israeli propaganda," sanitising war crimes and dehumanising Palestinian victims.

"By repeating Israel's genocidal fabrications without determining if they have any credibility," she wrote, "Western media outlets have made possible the killing of more journalists in two years on one tiny strip of land than in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, and Ukraine combined."

Since October 2023, 246 journalists have been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza, according to local media groups.

Nearly 63,000 Palestinians have been killed over nearly two years, with Israel's ongoing bombardment leaving the narrow strip in ruins. Gaza is also facing a "man-made famine" and mass displacement after almost two years of relentless attacks.