Call for end to forced starvation, targeted killing of journalists in Gaza
We, the undersigned press freedom organisations, media organisations, journalists' unions, and advocates of truth and transparency, demand an end to the forced starvation and targeting of journalists in Gaza by Israel.
Journalists in Gaza are being starved to death.
Not metaphorically. Not slowly. But deliberately, and in real time, while the world watches.
One in three people in Gaza now goes days without food. Among the starving are journalists, the last independent voices still reporting from inside Gaza. These are the individuals whose courage keeps the world informed of the sheer humanitarian impact of Israel's war on Gaza. Now, they are being forced to die from hunger.
This is not incidental. This is a tactic.
The suffering of journalists is not an accident; Israel is employing deliberate tactics to silence the truth by starving them.
Since October 2023, over 230 journalists and media workers in Gaza have been killed. Those who remain, and their families, are subjected to constant targeting, intimidation, and denied their basic needs, and are now forced to choose between death by air strike or starvation. Their situation is dire and worsening day by day. Without immediate intervention by the international community, their lives are under serious threat, and they may not be able to continue reporting; their voices may fall silent.
The journalistic community and the world bear an immense responsibility; it is our duty to raise our voices and mobilise all available means to support our colleagues in this noble profession.
If the international community fails to act, the death of these journalists will not only be a moral catastrophe, but it will also be the death of truth itself in Gaza. Our inaction will be recorded in history as a monumental failure to protect our fellow journalists and a betrayal of the principles that every journalist strives to uphold.
We, the undersigned, demand:
Immediate Food and Medical access: Urgent delivery of food, clean water and medical supplies to all journalists in Gaza through protected humanitarian corridors.
International Media Access: End the blockade on foreign press entry into Gaza and allow global journalists to operate freely and independently.
Accountability: Investigate and prosecute those responsible for the starvation and killing of journalists in accordance with international law.
Sustained Protection and Aid: Commit to long-term protection mechanisms for journalists operating in conflict zones, with specific support for those reporting under siege.
We refuse to stand by while truth dies. We refuse to let our colleagues perish from hunger.
Signed:
Al Jazeera Media Network
Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK
Aidan White, Founder, Ethical Journalism Network
Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ)
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor
Federation of African Journalists
Geneva Global Media Center (GGMC)
International Press Institute (IPI)
International Media Support (IMS)
Index on Censorship
James Foley Foundation
John Williams, Executive Director, The Rory Peck Trust
National Press Club (NPC) & NPC Media Freedom Center
National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ)
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
We call for immediate action. Now.
#justice4journalists
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
28 minutes ago
- Al Jazeera
US-made bombs used in deadly Israeli strikes on Gaza schools, HRW says
Israel has used US-made bombs in 'unlawful attacks' on schools sheltering displaced civilians in Gaza, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said. In a report released Thursday, HRW said Israel had carried out hundreds of strikes on schools since the start of its war on Gaza in October 2023, including 'unlawfully indiscriminate attacks' using US munitions, which violated international law. In its report, HRW investigated two incidents in 2024 in which it found that GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs supplied by the United States were used. One attack on the Khadija girls' school in Deir el-Balah on July 27, 2024, killed at least 15 people, and another attack on the Zeitoun C school in Gaza City on September 21, 2024, left at least 34 dead. Israeli authorities have not publicly shared information relating to the attacks. Israel has often said that its attacks on schools were targeting Hamas fighters. It has provided no evidence to indicate the presence of military targets at the sites of the attacks documented by the rights group. In both attacks, HRW and that there was no evidence of a military presence at the schools on the days of the attacks. The rights group also warned that recent Israeli attacks on schools sheltering displaced people were worsening the dire humanitarian situation in the territory. HRW said that from July 1-10, 2025, Israeli forces struck at least 10 schools where displaced people were sheltering, killing 59 people and displacing dozens of families, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The group emphasised that schools used to house civilians remain protected under international law unless used for military purposes. The rights group called for an immediate halt to arms transfers to Israel, warning of potential complicity by governments providing military support. 'These strikes on schools sheltering displaced families are just one window into the carnage in Gaza,' said Gerry Simpson, associate director at HRW. 'Other governments should not tolerate this horrendous slaughter of Palestinian civilians merely seeking safety.' It also urged states to uphold their obligations under international law, including the Genocide Convention. 'Governments supporting Israel militarily can't say they didn't know what their weapons are being used for,' said Simpson. According to the United Nations, nearly 1 million displaced Palestinians have taken shelter in Gaza's schools since October 2023. HRW said the repeated targeting of civilian infrastructure, including shelters, hospitals and schools, showed a pattern of attacks that may amount to war crimes. HRW noted that nearly all of Gaza's 564 schools have sustained damage, with 92 percent requiring full reconstruction or major repairs. The UN has reported that at least 836 people sheltering in schools have been killed.
Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Decolonising knowledge: A call to reclaim Islam's intellectual legacy
Over the last century, both Muslim and non-Muslim thinkers have centred their reformist discussions on decolonisation. The sheer volume of books, articles, and seminars on this subject has become overwhelming to the point of saturation. Muslims entered this debate seeking to understand how to regain global relevance, if not influence. They struggled to pinpoint exactly where and how the Muslim agenda went off course. The colonisation of Muslim countries became the nearest and most convenient target to criticise and demonise. As a result, Muslim thinkers of the 20th century were deeply absorbed in the process of decolonisation. Analysing the root causes of our decline and disintegration is undoubtedly an essential step towards self-correction and revival. The question, however, is how much progress have we made as an Ummah by endlessly repeating age-old analyses that leave behind only a bitter aftertaste? Where has all this talk of decolonisation actually taken us? I dare say it has led us to pursue aggressive efforts to further secularise Muslim values and promote misplaced priorities, such as pushing for a nation's entry into the World Cup, building the tallest skyscraper, hosting music festivals, spending billions to recruit the world's top football players, and staging Formula One races. As an afterthought, there is also an appreciation for education, often reduced to importing Western universities into the Muslim world. The significant contribution of Ismail al-Faruqi, a prominent Muslim philosopher who championed the concept of the Islamisation of knowledge, defined as the integration of Islamic principles into all fields of learning to realign modern knowledge with a monotheistic worldview, has quietly faded from focus. It has been increasingly overshadowed by an apologetic stance towards liberalism. In striving to regain global standing, we seem to have replaced meaningful reform with superficial displays of progress. In Western academia, discussions on decolonisation began with examinations of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's paradox of founding and later expanded to ideas such as Frantz Fanon's theory of spontaneity, Sukarno's concept of guided democracy, and Ali Shariati's paradox of colonisation. With Ismail al-Faruqi's call for the Islamisation of knowledge, Muslims came to recognise that true self-determination must also involve a revival of Muslim epistemology. This aligns with the Peruvian scholar Anibal Quijano's argument that decolonisation requires a critical challenge to Eurocentric control over knowledge. The Eurocentric and Western dominance over global knowledge, particularly in areas where they have little legitimacy to lead, is evident in many examples. Curators who oversee vast collections of Muslim manuscripts often claim the authority to narrate their history according to their own interpretations, which frequently diverge from the perspectives of the original authors and traditional commentators. As the founder and director of Darul Qasim, an Islamic seminary dedicated to advanced studies in the classical Islamic sciences, I witnessed this here in Illinois in the United States at an exhibition of rare Qur'anic manuscripts, where a non-Muslim woman had been appointed to 'tell the stories' of the texts. When a student from Darul Qasim corrected several inaccuracies in her account, her only reply was a dismissive: 'I'm in charge here.' Another example involves a scholar from Darul Qasim who submitted a manuscript on classical Arabic grammar to a prominent Western publisher who refused to publish it, stating: 'We cannot accept this work as you have not cited any Western sources.' Such incidents highlight how Western academic gatekeeping continues to reinforce Eurocentric control over knowledge. Ismail al-Faruqi sought to rescue Muslim knowledge from Western dominance. His vision was to 'Islamicise' knowledge by cleansing the sciences of concepts that are fundamentally incompatible with Islam. His theories were grounded in a monotheistic approach that integrated all sciences with the worldview of the Ummah. The concept gained traction and was promoted by the International Institute of Islamic Thought, a research organisation founded to advance the Islamisation of knowledge and embed it within academic discourse. While al-Faruqi's call to reevaluate our system of knowledge was undoubtedly a step in the right direction, it does not fully lead us to the ultimate goal of comprehensive decolonisation. What is needed is a theory that goes beyond the Islamisation of knowledge. I propose digging deeper into what scholars call the coloniality of knowledge, the persistent dominance of Eurocentric frameworks that continue to shape global intellectual thought, and advancing a theory of the desecularisation of knowledge. This requires realigning knowledge at the level of its epistemology, not merely in terms of politics or economics. Muslim scholars must take on the task of presenting and representing a coherent and effective theory of our epistemology. In summary, Islamic epistemology recognises three primary sources of knowledge: that which comes through the five senses, that which is derived from human intellect, and that which is conveyed through authentic and true reports, such as revelation to a Prophet. These three encompass every source of knowledge known to humankind, with intuition and dreams also understood as products of the intellect. Historically, Muslims played a leading role in mastering these sources of knowledge and disseminating them across the world. In Islam, knowledge is never separated from Allah, who is the original source of all knowledge. Unlike Western intellectual traditions that sought to separate knowledge from God in pursuit of modernity and prosperity, Islam affirms that true creativity flows from Allah, and that inventions and innovations arise from honouring Allah's knowledge of the world. Unfortunately, there is today a deep tension in the Muslim world over how to distinguish between Islamic and secular knowledge. Many seem to believe that Muslims must undergo a Western-inspired renaissance to reclaim past glory, doing so without regard for the afterlife, or akhirah. The problem is that Muslims do believe in the akhirah, and this has created a self-imposed and false dichotomy, born of misunderstanding Islamic principles, that suggests Muslims must compete with the West while simultaneously upholding the rules of salvation. This perceived conflict forces an artificial wedge between what is considered Islamic and what is considered secular. I believe this dichotomy is false, and anyone familiar with Islamic law, or fiqh, would recognise that. Islamic law governs how Muslims act, react, and interact with the mundane world in ways that have direct implications for their afterlife. Human actions in this world have consequences in the next. While this is not a treatise on Islamic law, this observation alone should address the doubts of sceptics. Muslims are generous not only because it helps those in need, but because they believe such acts bring immense reward in the akhirah. Charity, therefore, is not merely a humanitarian value, but a profoundly religious one. Belief in the akhirah desecularises even the simplest acts of kindness, reaffirming how Islamic thought integrates the material and spiritual. I propose that Islamic epistemology views all knowledge not as secular or sacred, but as either beneficial (nafi') or more beneficial (anfa'). Any knowledge that benefits an individual, human or non-human, in this world is considered beneficial. The Quran itself provides examples of such knowledge: Allah taught Nuh (Noah) the craft of building an ark from wooden planks that withstood a massive storm, and taught Dawud (David) the skill of forging armour from iron. In both cases, the knowledge is described as coming directly from Allah, and therefore, cannot be considered secular. Building bridges, highways, hospitals, and schools also falls into this category of beneficial (nafi') knowledge, as these works serve human welfare in this life. Knowledge that benefits human beings in the akhirah is anfa', or more beneficial. This includes knowledge of reciting the Quran, understanding ritual worship, and knowing how to serve Allah. Establishing religious schools (madrassas), mosques, and zakat foundations, for instance, belongs to this category of anfa' knowledge. Muslims do not need to create a false dichotomy in knowledge, for tawheed, the oneness of Allah, also encompasses the unity of knowledge. With this understanding, there is no need to desecularise knowledge; rather, we must appropriate it correctly according to its utility in this world and the next. The key lies in affirming the existence of the other world. I dare say that, in an age where belief in parallel universes is entertained, life beyond this world is not as far-fetched as secularists might have us believe. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
Al Jazeera
8 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Are sovereign wealth funds dumping Israeli investments?
The Norwegian government on Tuesday said it would review its sovereign wealth fund's investment in Israel after the Scandinavian country's leading newspaper revealed that the nearly $2 trillion fund had a stake in an Israeli company aiding Israel's war in Gaza. The newspaper, Aftenposten, identified the company as the Bet Shemesh Engines Ltd (BSEL) group, which provides parts to Israeli fighter jets that are being deployed in its devastating war on Gaza. In recent weeks, Israeli-induced starvation deaths have caused a global outcry, with Western countries ramping up pressure on Israel to end the war that has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians and ravaged Gaza – home to 2.3 million people. More than 200 people have died of starvation as Israel has obstructed the entry of humanitarian aid despite its so-called 'tactical pause' in its nearly two years of war. So, what did Norway say, and are Israeli atrocities in Gaza and the rest of occupied Palestinian territory turning the tide of public opinion against it? What did Norwegian leaders say? Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said that the investment in the Israeli firm was 'worrying'. 'We must get clarification on this because reading about it makes me uneasy,' Stoere told public broadcaster NRK. Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who manages the world's largest fund, ordered the central bank to conduct a review of the fund portfolio to make sure Israeli companies aiding the occupation of the West Bank or the war in Gaza are barred from investments. 'The war in Gaza is contrary to international law and is causing terrible suffering, so it is understandable that questions are being raised about the fund's investments in Bet Shemesh Engines,' Stoltenberg, a former NATO chief, said, referring to the growing public and political pressure. The decision came weeks after Norway's parliament rejected a proposal for the fund to divest from all companies with activities in the occupied Palestinian territory. 'In light of … the deteriorating situation in Gaza and the West Bank, I will today ask Norges Bank and the Council on Ethics to conduct a renewed review of the fund's investments in Israeli companies and Norges Bank's work on responsible management,' Stoltenberg said. Norges Bank is Norway's central bank. The independent ethics council, which provides recommendations on which companies should be banned from the oil fund's portfolio, has since 2009 suggested excluding nine Israeli groups. How much investment is at stake? Norges Bank, which manages the $1.9 trillion wealth fund, took a 1.3 percent stake in BSEL in 2023 and raised this to 2 percent by the end of 2024, holding shares worth $15m, the latest available NBIM records show. The fund held shares in 65 Israeli companies at the end of 2024, valued at $1.95bn, its records show. The value of its stake was more than four times higher than it was at the end of 2023, shortly after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. At least 1,139 people were killed in that attack. The sovereign fund, which owns stakes in 8,700 companies worldwide, has sold its stakes in an Israeli energy company and a telecom group in the last year, and its ethics council has said it is reviewing whether to recommend divesting holdings in five banks. In May, the sovereign fund decided to divest from Israel's Paz Retail and Energy for its involvement in supplying infrastructure and fuel to illegal Israeli settlements. In December 2024, the fund sold all its shares in the Israeli company, Bezeq, for its services provided to the illegal settlements, which are considered the biggest impediments in the realisation of a sovereign Palestinian state as part of the so-called two-state solution. Moreover, Norway's largest pension fund has decided to sever its ties with companies doing business with Israel. KLP, which manages a fund worth about $114bn, said in June that it will no longer do business with two companies – the US Oshkosh Corporation and ThyssenKrupp from Germany, which sell equipment to the Israeli military that is possibly being used in the war in Gaza. According to the pension fund, it had investments worth $1.8m in Oshkosh and almost $1m in ThyssenKrupp until June 2025. Last year, KLP also divested from US-based Caterpillar, which makes bulldozers. Which other funds and companies have severed ties with Israel? French insurance giant AXA last August reportedly divested from its remaining investments in Israeli banks for funding illegal settlements, according to a report by advocacy group Eko. Norwegian asset manager Storebrand has also sold shares in some Israeli firms. The move came after sustained campaigning by human rights groups, who highlighted Israeli rights violations against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Another major pension fund from Denmark, its largest, divested from several Israeli banks and companies last February over fears that the investment could be used to fund the illegal Israeli settlements. The fund has sold its stocks and shares to the tune of 75 million krone ($7.4m) in value. Last month, Ireland's sovereign wealth fund divested shareholdings worth more than 1 million euros ($1.2m) from two accommodation companies linked to Israeli settlements. The two companies have been identified as Expedia Group and TripAdvisor, according to media reports. The Irish government, which has been vocal against Israel's war on Gaza, divested 2.95 million euros ($3.43m) worth of shares from six other Israeli companies. Amid pressure from campaigners and activists from Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), several corporations have been forced to sever ties with Israel. Shipping giant Maersk was forced to cut ties with companies linked to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank in June. The BDS, a grassroots organisation inspired by the anti-apartheid South Africa movement, calls for economic pressure on the Israeli government to end its occupation of Palestinian lands. Several of Europe's biggest financial firms have cut back their links to Israeli companies or those with ties to the country, a Reuters analysis of filings shows, as pressure mounts from activists and governments to end the war in Gaza. Which countries have taken action against Israel's genocidal war on Gaza? Colombian President Gustavo Petro, in July, banned exports of coal to Israel until the genocide stops. 'We cannot allow Colombian coal to be turned into bombs that help Israel kill children,' the left-wing president said. He has also pledged to cease all arms trade with Israel. Under Petro, Colombia has helped set up the Hague Group of 12 countries aimed at pressuring Israel to end its war on Gaza and the occupation of the Palestinian territory. Spain's left-wing coalition government in June cancelled a contract for antitank missiles from Israeli company Rafael over the war atrocities in Gaza. The decision will affect a deal worth an estimated 285 million euros ($325m). Few months earlier, Spain halted a controversial $7.5m deal to buy ammunition from an Israeli company, following criticism from far-left allies within the coalition government. Madrid has also called for sanctions and an arms embargo on Israel over its Gaza war. Several Western countries have sanctioned Israeli settlers in the West Bank amid record violence against Palestinians. In July 2024, Australia sanctioned Israeli settlers, joining France, the UK. The sanction came after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a nonbinding opinion that all Israeli settlement activity on Palestinian land is illegal and must stop as soon as possible. In June, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom formally sanctioned far-right Israeli ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, for 'incitement of violence' against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. In the same month, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia called for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Sweden has also asked the European Council to adopt sanctions 'against Israeli ministers who promote illegal settlement activities and actively work against a negotiated two-state solution'. The EU provides millions of dollars in funds to Israel as part of its Horizon Europe research projects, while Western leaders have defended Israel for its war atrocities in Gaza and also shielded it from the United Nations resolutions critical of its abuses. Western countries have also been criticised for failing to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who face warrants from the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Gaza. Last month, the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, released a new report mapping the corporations aiding Israel in the displacement of Palestinians and its genocidal war on Gaza, in breach of international law.
