Israel Accused of Blocking International Media Access to Gaza to Avoid Scrutiny
Media advocates and press freedom organizations say the move is aimed at restricting transparency and evading accountability during its protracted military campaign.
In a sharply worded analysis published by Sky News, Executive Editor and Managing Director Jonathan Levy accused Israeli authorities of deliberately obstructing foreign media access to Gaza, where more than 20 months of bombardment have left the Strip devastated and effectively sealed off from outside scrutiny.
'Israel's confidence in the integrity of its wartime conduct is not matched by a willingness to allow international journalists into Gaza to witness what is going on there for themselves,' Levy wrote.
'The ongoing denial of access feels much less about the safety of journalists and more about preventing proper scrutiny and accountability.'
Since the war began in October 2023, Israel has barred independent foreign journalists from entering Gaza, allowing only limited, military-supervised media embeds lasting a few hours.
Israeli officials have cited concerns over reporter safety. However, Levy, along with other veteran journalists, pointed out that media outlets have covered previous wars in Gaza despite the risks.
'The risks are real, for sure,' Levy acknowledged. 'But they're risks that we accept. It's what we do.'
The media blackout has come under increased scrutiny as local Palestinian journalists continue to document the war under harrowing conditions, often at great personal cost.
According to Gaza's Government Media Office, at least 227 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since the conflict began. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has described it as 'the largest massacre of journalists in history.'
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), in its 2025 World Press Freedom Index, identified Palestine as the most dangerous place in the world for journalists, reporting that nearly 200 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israeli forces in the conflict's first 18 months. At least 42 of those journalists were killed while on assignment, RSF said.
'Trapped in the enclave, journalists in Gaza have no shelter and lack everything, including food and water,' RSF reported.
A study by Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, titled News Graveyards: How Dangers to War Reporters Endanger the World, declared the Israeli campaign in Gaza the deadliest conflict for journalists in modern history.
The study reveals that the toll is surpassing the combined tolls of the U.S. Civil War, both World Wars, the Korean and Vietnam wars, the Balkan conflicts, and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan.
'In 2023, a journalist or media worker was killed every four days. In 2024, it was once every three days,' the report found. The majority of those killed were local reporters.
Levy also highlighted what he called a troubling effort to delegitimize the limited reporting that does emerge from Gaza.
'What reporting has been possible is often shamefully labelled as anti-Semitic and compared to the darkest periods in Jewish history,' he said.
'This constitutes a war on truth that is at odds with Israel's proud and oft-repeated claim to be the Middle East's only democracy.'
The Center for Protecting Palestinian Journalists (PJPS) described the targeting of journalists as part of a wider pattern of human rights violations.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) echoed these concerns, stating that the war represents a historic low for journalist protections in war zones.
'This war is unprecedented in its impact on journalists and demonstrates a major deterioration in global norms,' said CPJ President Jodie Ginsberg.
CPJ and other press freedom organizations have accused Israel of attempting to deflect responsibility for journalist deaths, suppress investigations, and absolve its military of accountability.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemned the ongoing situation as 'a massacre taking place in Palestine before the eyes of the entire world,' calling 2024 'one of the worst years' in history for media professionals.
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