Media, civil society organizations urge Israel to allow journalists independent access to Gaza

Gaza (QNN)- Over 70 media and civil society organizations have called on Israel to end immediately the restrictions on foreign media entering Gaza and grant journalists independent access.

BBC News, The New York Times, the AFPnews agency, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, and the European Federation of Journalists were among the signatories to an open letter calling for access to Gaza.

“We, the undersigned, request that Israeli authorities end immediately the restrictions on foreign media entering Gaza and grant independent access to international news organizations seeking to access the territory,” the letter read.

“Nine months into the war, international reporters are still being denied access to Gaza except for rare and escorted trips arranged by the Israeli military.
“This effective ban on foreign reporting has placed an impossible and unreasonable burden on local reporters to document a war through which they are living.”

The letter was coordinated by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). It said over 100 journalists have been killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began and those left are working in serious deprivation.

“The result is that information from Gaza is becoming harder and harder to obtain and that the reporting which does get through is subject to repeated questions over its veracity,” the letter added.

The letter signatories said they fully understood the dangers that come with reporting from war zones and that these were risks many of their organizations had taken over decades to document events as they took place.

“A free and independent press is the cornerstone of democracy,” the letter added.

“We ask that Israel uphold its commitments to press freedom by providing foreign media with immediate, independent access to Gaza, and that Israel abides by its international obligations to protect journalists as civilians.”

“Netanyahu describes Israel as a democracy. His actions with regard to the media tell a different story”, CPJ chief executive officer Jodie Ginsberg said in a press release.

“International, Israeli, and Palestinian journalists from outside Gaza should be given independent access to Gaza so they can judge for themselves what is happening in this war – rather than being spoon-fed with a handful of organized tours by the Israeli military.”