Canadian photojournalist Valerie Zink announced on her personal Facebook page that she is resigning from Reuters news agency after eight years as a stringer, saying she can no longer work for an agency she accuses of "justifying and enabling" Israel’s systematic killing of journalists in Gaza.

Zink, whose work has been published by the New York Times, Al Jazeera, and outlets across North America, Europe, and Asia, said Reuters’ coverage has contributed to the conditions in which 246 journalists have been killed since Israel launched its carnage in Gaza in October 2023.

She cited the case of Anas al-Sharif, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Al Jazeera correspondent who was killed with his crew in Gaza City on August 10.

"Reuters chose to publish Israel’s entirely baseless claim that Al-Sharif was a Hamas operative – one of countless lies that media outlets like Reuters have dutifully repeated and dignified," Zink wrote.

Perpetuate Israel’s propaganda

She also condemned Reuters’ response to the killing of its own staff.

On Monday, cameraman Hossam al-Masri was among 20 people killed in an Israeli strike on Nasser hospital.

Zink described it as a "double tap" attack — an initial strike on a civilian site followed by a second strike targeting medics, rescuers, and journalists.

"Western media is directly culpable for creating the conditions in which this can happen," she said, quoting journalist Jeremy Scahill’s criticism that "every major outlet – from the New York Times to Reuters – has served as a conveyor belt for Israeli propaganda, sanitising war crimes and dehumanising victims."

Zink argued that by repeating Israeli military claims without verification, Western media has "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."

She accused Reuters of abandoning al-Sharif even after he won them a Pulitzer Prize.

"It did not compel them to come to his defence when Israeli forces placed him on a hit list … or when he appealed for protection after an Israeli spokesperson publicly threatened him. It did not compel them to report on his death honestly when he was hunted and killed weeks later," she said.

Zink said she can no longer wear her Reuters press pass without "deep shame and grief."

She pledged to redirect her work in honour of Gaza’s journalists, whom she called "the bravest and best to ever live."

Global condemnation

At least 21 people, including medics and journalists, were killed on Monday when Israel struck Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Among the dead were Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Salama, Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri, AP freelancer Mariam Abu Daqqa, Ahmed Abu Aziz and Moaz Abu Taha.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate called it "an open war against free media," while UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese urged states to "break the blockade, impose an arms embargo, impose sanctions."

Albanese called all journalists in the world to raise their voice against the massacre of their brave Palestinian colleagues while "documenting the genocide."

The Committee to Protect Journalists said the international community must hold Israel accountable for "continued unlawful attacks on the press."

Israel’s allies expressed alarm.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron called the strikes "intolerable," saying journalists "must be protected under all circumstances."

Germany and Spain demanded an independent investigation.

The UK’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he was "horrified," calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Türkiye, Qatar, Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia all issued sharp condemnations, describing the killing of media and medical workers as war crimes.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, meeting in Jeddah, said it was an assault on press freedom.

The strike brought the number of journalists and media workers killed in Gaza since October 2023 to at least 273, according to Al Jazeera.