Kyrie Irving wears PRESS shirt for Gaza journalists at NBA All-Star Game | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Basketball star honours media workers in Gaza, nearly 300 of whom have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 2023.

Basketball superstar Kyrie Irving has worn a shirt reading “PRESS” at the NBA All-Star Game to honour journalists covering Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“Dedicated to our beloved journalists in Gaza showing the world the truth,” read the tag on the shirt that the Dallas Mavericks point guard wore on Sunday, according to reports.

Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed nearly 300 journalists and media workers since the war began in October 2023, or about 12 journalists every month, including 10 Al Jazeera journalists.

The tally by Shireen.ps – a monitoring website named after Shireen Abu Akleh, an Al Jazeera journalist killed by an Israeli sniper in the occupied West Bank in 2022 – means that the war on Gaza has become the deadliest conflict for media professionals in modern history.

According to a report in January by the Committee to Protect Journalists, the number of Palestinian journalists imprisoned by Israel has also risen since the onset of the war. The journalists rights group noted that Israel had arrested more than 90 Palestinian journalists during that period.

Besides killing and imprisoning journalists, Israel has also banned foreign reporters from entering Gaza. The only exceptions have been allowing journalists to enter as part of tightly controlled tours organised by the Israeli military despite calls from media groups and press freedom organisations for more open access.

Sunday’s courtside appearance was not the first time Irving, 33, has displayed his support for Palestinians in Gaza.

In a pre-game interview in November 2024, he was seen wearing a chain with the Palestine flag in the shape of Israel’s land mass.

A year earlier, he made headlines by attending a post-match news conference wearing a keffiyeh, a cotton headdress with a distinctive chequered pattern worn in many parts of the Arab world that represents Palestinian identity.

Separately over the NBA All-Star weekend, Irving’s former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate and four-time champion LeBron James received backlash online after addressing fans in Israel.

“If I have fans over there – I’ve never been there – if I have fans over there, then I hope I inspire people over there not only to want to be great in sports but to be better in general in life. Hopefully someday, I can make it over there. Like I said, I’ve never been over there, but I’ve heard nothing but great things,” the Los Angeles Lakers superstar said at a pre-game news conference.

Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 2023 have killed more than 72,000 people, including thousands of children.

The attacks have continued despite a United States-brokered “ceasefire” that began in October. They have killed more than 600 Palestinians.