International media groups urge Israel to allow access to Gaza

RTÉ News​

4 days ago

A number of international news agencies have called on Israel to allow journalists in and out of Gaza which is subject to a strict blockade.
"We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families," the media groups, Agence France-Presse (AFP), Associated Press (AP) and Reuters as well as the BBC, said in a joint statement.
They added that "journalists endure many deprivations and hardships in war zones. We are deeply alarmed that the threat of starvation is now one of them."
"We once again urge the Israeli authorities to allow journalists in and out of Gaza. It is essential that adequate food supplies reach the people there," they concluded.
With Gaza sealed off, many media groups around the world depend on photo, video and text coverage of the conflict by Palestinian reporters working for international news agencies such as AFP.
International criticism is growing over the plight of the more than two million Palestinian civilians in Gaza, where more than 100 aid and rights groups have warned that "mass starvation" is spreading.
Since the war started following the unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas, journalists have been able to enter Gaza only with the Israeli army and with strict military censorship rules.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in early July that more than 200 journalists had been killed in Gaza since the war began.
AFP news agency said this week it was concerned about "the appalling situation" faced by its staff in Gaza, warning that their lives were in danger.
"We have no energy left due to hunger and lack of food," said Omar al-Qattaa, an AFP photographer shortlisted for a Pulitzer Prize earlier this year.
Israel says humanitarian aid is being allowed in and accuses Hamas of exploiting civilian suffering, including by stealing food handouts to sell at inflated prices or shooting at those awaiting aid.
Witnesses and Gaza's civil defence agency, however, have repeatedly accused Israeli forces of firing on aid seekers, with the UN saying the military had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food since late May.
AFP succeeded in evacuating eight staff members and their families from Gaza between January and April 2024, after months of effort.
The agency and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot had urged Israel to allow AFP's freelancers and their families to leave the occupied coastal territory earlier this week.
The World Health Organization's chief warned yesterday of widespread starvation in Gaza, saying food deliveries into the territory were "far below what is needed for the survival of the population".
With foreign reporters prevented from entering Gaza and local reporters being killed repeatedly, Gaza was "a place where journalism itself is threatened with extinction", Reporters Without Borders warned in its 2024 annual report.
In some cases, Israel has accused reporters of being "terror operatives", such as when it killed a Gaza-based Al Jazeera staff journalist and freelancer last year - allegations condemned by the Qatari news network.
Al Jazeera, which has been banned in Israel, says the Israeli military has been targeting its staff since the start of the war because of the channel's coverage.
"We know that probably most journalists inside Gaza are operating under the auspices of Hamas, and until Hamas is destroyed, they will not be allowed to report freely," Israeli government spokesman David Mercer told a press conference in December.