Latest news with #CPJ
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
‘Precursor to assassination': Gaza reporter Anas Al-Sharif on Israeli threats; CPJ sounds alarm over journalist safety
Anas Al-Sharif, a news reporter in Gaza, is allegedly facing a direct threat from Israel to his life after continued online attacks by a spokesperson of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). 'A precursor to my assassination' is how the 28-year-old Palestinian journalist has described it. Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Sharif, 28, has lost some of his family to IDF strikes; and has continued to report from the ground in Gaza.(Instagram/@anasjamal44) Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based news outlet for which he works, and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have expressed immediate alarm over the threats by IDF Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee, who accuses Al-Sharif of being a terrorist. 'Avichay Adraee's campaign is not only a media threat or an image destruction; it is a real-life threat,' Al-Sharif was quoted as saying by the CPJ. Also read | Speaking for Gaza 'not patriotism': Bombay HC refuses permission for protest, says 'do something for India' Al-Sharif is married and has at least one child, a daughter, his Instagram page shows. Some members of his extended family have been killed in Israeli airstrikes. 'All of this is happening because my coverage of the crimes of the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip harms them and damages their image in the world," Al-Sharif said of Israel, whom he accused of wanting to 'morally assassinate" him. Also read | What UN meet amid grave tragedy in Gaza aims to achieve, and what it might Israel has already banned Al Jazeera in the country and from the occupied Palestinian territory of West Bank. The IDF's Arabic spokesperson, Avichay Adraee has alleged that Al-Sharif is a Hamas member, particularly since the journalist cried on air this month while reporting on starvation in Gaza. In videos on July 23 and 24 — around the time Israel and the US withdrew their representatives from truce talks with Hamas — IDF spokesperson Adraee said the reporting on starving Palestinians was 'a fabricated drama starring Anas Al-Sharif, who sheds crocodile tears". In earlier videos the same month, Adraee called Al Sharif's and the channel's work 'intellectual terrorism". He was responding to a post by Al-Sharif on his X account that said: 'As a citizen of Gaza, I support a ceasefire by any means now. We are not living; we are just trying to survive.' Also read | Immigration 'killing' Europe, says Donald Trump CPJ regional director Sara Qudah said the latest accusations by the IDF 'represent an effort to manufacture consent to kill Al-Sharif'. She called on the international community to protect him. Al Jazeera, in a statement on Friday, said it 'denounces these relentless efforts, which have consistently incited against its staff since the beginning of its coverage of the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza'. The IDF has reportedly stuck by Adraee's stance in his latest video of July 24, in which he accused Al-Sharif of being a member of Al-Qassam, the military wing of Hamas. Global news organisations such as the BBC, AFP, AP and Reuters earlier this week issued a joint statement about being 'desperately concerned' for journalists in Gaza amid warnings of mass starvation. 'IDF has murdered journalists before' While foreign journalists are not allowed free access to Gaza for months now, the CPJ says Israel has deliberately killed local sources of information and reporting. It mentioned at least four Al Jazeera staff — Hamza Al Dahdouh, Ismail Al Ghoul, Rami Al Refee, and Hossam Shabat — as cases of murder by the IDF. Israel, meanwhile, is facing increasing global condemnation over its actions in Gaza, which had started as a response to the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that killed around 1,200 people in Israel. The war since is reported to have claimed over 50,000 Palestinian lives. Starvation in Gaza prompts UN meet Mass starvation at least since early this year is reported to have claimed over 110 lives so far – one of the reasons why a UN conference is now scheduled for July 28-30 in New York to possibly call for peace and an eventual two-state solution. Israel and its largest backer, the US, are not attending the meet, which is being co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France. They have also called back their representatives from talks for a ceasefire with Hamas, saying the group was making unreasonable demands about Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Gaza is starving. So are its journalists
In May, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) wrote about the desperate situation facing journalists in Gaza, who were having to report while dangerously hungry. My colleagues documented the gnawing hunger, dizziness, brain fog and sickness all experienced by an exhausted Palestinian press corps already living and working in terrifying conditions. Eight weeks later, that desperate situation is now catastrophic. Several news organizations are now warning that their journalists – those documenting what is happening inside Gaza – will die unless urgent action is taken to stop Israel's deliberate refusal to allow sufficient food into the territory. 'Since AFP was founded in August 1944, we have lost journalists in conflicts, we have had wounded and prisoners in our ranks, but none of us can recall seeing a colleague die of hunger,' an association of journalists from the Agence France-Presse wrote in a statement on Monday. 'We refuse to watch them die.' Two days later, the Qatari broadcast network Al Jazeera said its journalists – like all Palestinians in Gaza– were 'fighting for their own survival' and warned: 'If we fail to act now, we risk a future where there may be no one left to tell our stories.' Al Jazeera shared a heart-wrenching post from the Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Anas Al Sharif in which he writes: 'I haven't stopped covering [the crisis] for a moment in 21 months, and today, I say it outright … And with indescribable pain. I am drowning in hunger, trembling in exhaustion, and resisting the fainting that follows me every moment … Gaza is dying. And we die with it.' Al Sharif's story is one we have heard over and over again from reporters inside Gaza. On Sunday, Sally Thabet, correspondent for Al-Kofiya satellite channel, fainted after a live broadcast on 20 July because she had not eaten all day. She told CPJ she regained consciousness in the hospital, where doctors gave her an intravenous drip for rehydration and nutrition. In an online video, she described how she and her three daughters are starving. The Palestinian journalist Shuruq As'ad, founder of the Palestine Journalism Hub, said Thabet was the third journalist to collapse on air from starvation that week. I have been a reporter for more than a quarter of a century. I know all too well that journalists have always faced risks in reporting in war zones. I have many journalist friends who bear the scars – both physical and mental – of covering such conflicts, and many whose colleagues have been killed in fighting from Libya to Syria, from Bosnia to Sierra Leone. Most take these risks knowingly. But this is not that situation. These are not the usual risks faced by reporters in conflict: a stray bullet, a landmine, ambush. This is something else. This is systematic silencing by Israel. Starvation is its latest and terrible manifestation, but we must be clear that the threats facing journalists in Gaza are not new – nor is the international community's abject failure to address them. More journalists and media workers were killed in 2024 than in any other year since CPJ began keeping records. Nearly two-thirds of all those killed in 2024 were Palestinians killed by Israel. There has been no accountability for any of these killings, despite evidence of numerous targeted attacks. Very few of these journalists chose to become war correspondents. They are war correspondents because war is their daily, inescapable reality. They report because there is no one else to do so as Israel continues to refuse access to journalists from outside Gaza to the territory, a refusal that is without precedent in the history of modern warfare. These restrictions on international access place an unbearable burden on those who are forced to remain and bear witness. CPJ has documented the deliberate targeting of journalists; their offices have been bombed, their homes destroyed. They have been forced to move repeatedly, finding shelter in flimsy tents. They struggle with frequent communications blackouts and damaged equipment. They are barred from leaving Gaza and evacuation is all but impossible, even with life-threatening and life-altering injuries. Unlike in other ongoing conflicts, such as Ukraine, which also has a high number of domestic reporters who now report on and from a war zone, Gaza's journalists have no colleagues who can replace them from elsewhere, who can provide them with much-needed rest and respite. Now these journalists are starving to death before our eyes. The international community has the information it needs to act to reverse this course. We know what is happening in Gaza. We know because of the journalists who have documented the attacks at aid stations, who have filmed the starving children and the bombed hospitals, and who are now recording their own demise. There is an adage in journalism circles that explains reporters' reluctance to write about themselves: No journalist wants to become the story. If we do not act now, there will be no one left in Gaza to tell anyone's story. And that silence – those deaths – will be on us. Jodie Ginsberg is CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Gaza is starving. So are its journalists
In May, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) wrote about the desperate situation facing journalists in Gaza, who were having to report while dangerously hungry. My colleagues documented the gnawing hunger, dizziness, brain fog and sickness all experienced by an exhausted Palestinian press corps already living and working in terrifying conditions. Eight weeks later, that desperate situation is now catastrophic. Several news organizations are now warning that their journalists – those documenting what is happening inside Gaza – will die unless urgent action is taken to stop Israel's deliberate refusal to allow sufficient food into the territory. 'Since AFP was founded in August 1944, we have lost journalists in conflicts, we have had wounded and prisoners in our ranks, but none of us can recall seeing a colleague die of hunger,' an association of journalists from the Agence France-Presse wrote in a statement on Monday. 'We refuse to watch them die.' Two days later, the Qatari broadcast network Al Jazeera said its journalists – like all Palestinians in Gaza– were 'fighting for their own survival' and warned: 'If we fail to act now, we risk a future where there may be no one left to tell our stories.' Al Jazeera shared a heart-wrenching post from the Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Anas Al Sharif in which he writes: 'I haven't stopped covering [the crisis] for a moment in 21 months, and today, I say it outright … And with indescribable pain. I am drowning in hunger, trembling in exhaustion, and resisting the fainting that follows me every moment … Gaza is dying. And we die with it.' Al Sharif's story is one we have heard over and over again from reporters inside Gaza. On Sunday, Sally Thabet, correspondent for Al-Kofiya satellite channel, fainted after a live broadcast on 20 July because she had not eaten all day. She told CPJ she regained consciousness in the hospital, where doctors gave her an intravenous drip for rehydration and nutrition. In an online video, she described how she and her three daughters are starving. The Palestinian journalist Shuruq As'ad, founder of the Palestine Journalism Hub, said Thabet was the third journalist to collapse on air from starvation that week. I have been a reporter for more than a quarter of a century. I know all too well that journalists have always faced risks in reporting in war zones. I have many journalist friends who bear the scars – both physical and mental – of covering such conflicts, and many whose colleagues have been killed in fighting from Libya to Syria, from Bosnia to Sierra Leone. Most take these risks knowingly. But this is not that situation. These are not the usual risks faced by reporters in conflict: a stray bullet, a landmine, ambush. This is something else. This is systematic silencing by Israel. Starvation is its latest and terrible manifestation, but we must be clear that the threats facing journalists in Gaza are not new – nor is the international community's abject failure to address them. More journalists and media workers were killed in 2024 than in any other year since CPJ began keeping records. Nearly two-thirds of all those killed in 2024 were Palestinians killed by Israel. There has been no accountability for any of these killings, despite evidence of numerous targeted attacks. Very few of these journalists chose to become war correspondents. They are war correspondents because war is their daily, inescapable reality. They report because there is no one else to do so as Israel continues to refuse access to journalists from outside Gaza to the territory, a refusal that is without precedent in the history of modern warfare. These restrictions on international access place an unbearable burden on those who are forced to remain and bear witness. CPJ has documented the deliberate targeting of journalists; their offices have been bombed, their homes destroyed. They have been forced to move repeatedly, finding shelter in flimsy tents. They struggle with frequent communications blackouts and damaged equipment. They are barred from leaving Gaza and evacuation is all but impossible, even with life-threatening and life-altering injuries. Unlike in other ongoing conflicts, such as Ukraine, which also has a high number of domestic reporters who now report on and from a war zone, Gaza's journalists have no colleagues who can replace them from elsewhere, who can provide them with much-needed rest and respite. Now these journalists are starving to death before our eyes. The international community has the information it needs to act to reverse this course. We know what is happening in Gaza. We know because of the journalists who have documented the attacks at aid stations, who have filmed the starving children and the bombed hospitals, and who are now recording their own demise. There is an adage in journalism circles that explains reporters' reluctance to write about themselves: No journalist wants to become the story. If we do not act now, there will be no one left in Gaza to tell anyone's story. And that silence – those deaths – will be on us. Jodie Ginsberg is CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists
Business Recorder
4 days ago
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Israel is starving Gazan journalists into silence: CPJ
NEW YORK: The Committee to Protect Journalists added its voice to Wednesday's urgent appeal from more than 100 aid agencies to end to Israel's starvation of journalists and other civilians in Gaza, as they called on states to 'save lives before there are none left to save.' 'Israel is starving Gazan journalists into silence. They are not just reporters, they are frontline witnesses, abandoned as international media were pulled out and denied entry,' said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. 'The world must act now: protect them, feed them, and allow them to recover while other journalists step in to help report. Our response to their courageous 650 plus-days of war reporting cannot simply be to let them starve to death.' On Tuesday, CPJ launched its Voices From Gaza video series of Palestinian journalists describing their challenges working in Gaza. In the first video, Moath al Kahlout said his cousin was shot dead while waiting for humanitarian aid. As Israel partially eased its 11-week total blockade of Gaza in May, CPJ published the testimony of six journalists who described how starvation, dizziness, brain fog, and sickness threatened their ability to report.
France 24
03-07-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Gaza: In the rubble of a cafe bombed by Israel
Majd Abo Alouf, a journalist on the scene during the air strike, filmed the aftermath of the bombing. He told the FRANCE 24 Observers team: I was near the cafe when I witnessed a large explosion that shook the area. Missiles lauched by the [Israeli] occupiers created a massive crater. I went inside, and I saw bodies on the ground in the hall: people without heads, legs or hands. At least 24 people were killed in the Israeli army bombardment, according to Gaza's civil defence agency. Among them was journalist Ismail Abu Hatab, a regular at the cafe. He had been documenting the daily life of Gaza under bombardment since October 7, 2023. His work had recently been exhibited in California, and he had already been wounded by the Israeli army in November 2023. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the journalist's death and called for an independent investigation. Abu Hatab is the 186th journalist killed since the conflict began, according to CPJ. The FRANCE 24 Observers team contacted the Israeli army, who said the incident was 'under review'.
