Zink, whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Al Jazeera, and publications across North America, Europe, and Asia, announced her decision in a post on Facebook on Tuesday.
Her decision to call it quits from the UK-based global news agency comes less than 24 hours after Israel killed five journalists and 15 others, and wounded dozens more, in a deadly strike Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis in Gaza, which was widely condemned on an international level.
The fallen journalists were cameraman Hussam Al-Masri, a Reuters contractor; Al Jazeera cameraman Mohammed Salama; Mariam Abu Daqqa, 33, a visual journalist who freelanced for the AP since the start of the war; journalist Moaz Abu Taha; and journalist Ahmed Abu Aziz. The Israeli strike also left another Reuters contractor, Hatem Khaled, wounded.
This brought up the number of Palestinian journalists killed by Israel since it began its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023 to 245, according to media rights groups.
Shortly after the deadly Israeli attack on Nasser hospital, a spokesperson for Reuters said: "We are devastated to learn of the death of Reuters contractor Hussam al-Masri and injuries to another of our contractors, Hatem Khaled, in Israeli strikes on the Nasser hospital in Gaza today."
"We are urgently seeking more information and have asked authorities in Gaza and Israel to help us get urgent medical assistance for Hatem," the spokesperson added in a statement.
In her Facebook post, Zink condemned what she described as Reuters's willingness to perpetuate Israeli propaganda in its 22-month-old genocidal war on Gaza.
"Reuters’ willingness to perpetuate Israel’s propaganda has not spared their own reporters from Israel’s genocide. Five more journalists, including Reuters cameraman Hossam Al-Masri, were among 20 people killed this morning in another attack on Nasser hospital. It was what’s known as a “double tap” strike, in which Israel bombs a civilian target like a school or hospital; waits for medics, rescue teams, and journalists to arrive; and then strikes again," she wrote.
“At this point, 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.”
Zink also condemned Reuters’ coverage of the case of Anas al-Sharif, the veteran Al Jazeera correspondent who was killed in a targeted Israeli strike on Gaza City on 10 August.
Al-Sharif, who was part of a Reuters team awarded the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography in May 2024, had long faced what the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called a “dangerous smear campaign” by the Israeli military, falsely accusing him of being a Hamas member.
“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,” she wrote.
Zink said the agency failed to defend him, noting that it did not speak out when he was placed on an Israeli “hit list” of journalists accused of militant ties.
“It did not compel them to come to his defence when he appealed to international media for protection… nor did it compel them to report on his death honestly when he was hunted and killed weeks later.”
“Western media is directly culpable for creating the conditions in which this can happen,” Zink added.
She quoted Drop Site News journalist Jeremy Scahill’s charge that “every major outlet – from the New York Times to the Washington Post, from AP to Reuters – has served as a conveyor belt for Israeli propaganda, sanitizing war crimes and dehumanizing victims.”
She added: "By repeating Israel’s genocidal fabrications without determining if they have any credibility – willfully abandoning the most basic responsibility of journalism – Western media outlets have made possible the killing of more journalists in two years on one tiny strip of land than in WWI, WWII, and the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, and Ukraine combined, to say nothing of starving an entire population, shredding its children, and burning people alive."
In conclusion, she explained: "I have valued the work that I brought to Reuters over the past eight years, but at this point I can’t conceive of wearing this press pass with anything but deep shame and grief. I don’t know what it means to begin to honour the courage and sacrifice of journalists in Gaza – the bravest and best to ever live – but going forward I will direct whatever contributions I have to offer with that front of mind."
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