Press Association Slams Israel’s Ongoing ban on Media Access to Gaza Despite Ceasefire
Gaza (QNN)- An international media association has slammed Israel’s continued ban on foreign journalists entering the Gaza Strip, despite the ceasefire which took effect in October, expressing its “profound disappointment”.
Israel has barred foreign journalists from entering Gaza ever since the genocidal war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023. The Foreign Press Association (FPA) has petitioned the Supreme Court against the ban twice.
The first petition, submitted at the beginning of the assault, was rejected. In the second petition, filed more than a year ago, the justices granted the Israeli government nine extensions on the deadline for submitting its response. Two weeks ago, they once again agreed to its request for an extension, but gave it only an extra two weeks rather than the 30 days it requested. January 4 was the final deadline for Israel to respond to the petition seeking free and unfettered access for foreign journalists to the devastated territory.
However, Israel told the Supreme Court that the ban should be maintained due to “security reasons”.
The organisation, which represents journalists from international news organisations working in Israel, Gaza and the occupied West Bank, pledged to submit a “robust response” to the court in the coming days.
“Instead of presenting a plan for allowing journalists into Gaza independently and letting us work alongside our brave Palestinian colleagues, the government has decided once again to lock us out. This comes even when a ceasefire is now in place,” the FPA statement said.
According to Israeli news website Ynet, Israel is preparing a propaganda war ahead of allowing foreign journalists into the Gaza Strip. It plans to organize military-guided tours to justify its two-year genocide in Gaza. Despite months of preparation, Ynet said Israel admits its media readiness remains weak.
Officials fear that international reporters will expose the catastrophic reality inside Gaza and fuel global outrage over war crimes and genocide reports.
Israeli officials told Ynet they expect a flood of humanitarian reports once journalists enter Gaza. These reports, they said, could intensify evidence of genocide and war crimes.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the plan. It said Israeli military escorts serve as tools of propaganda, with journalists only allowed brief, highly controlled visits to pre-selected sites.
CPJ noted that such restrictions violate international press freedom standards.
The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor stated that Israel is deliberately blocking foreign journalists and investigators to hide evidence of genocide and war crimes in Gaza.
In a statement, the group said Israel runs a “systematic policy” to erase physical evidence through field operations and administrative measures. These include preventing journalists and investigation committees from entering Gaza to stop any international accountability.
The monitor warned that Israel’s ban on foreign media is part of an institutional effort to keep its crimes “outside global scrutiny.”
According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, Israeli forces have killed 257 Palestinian journalists since October 2023 to silence the Palestinian narrative. In December, a report by Reporters Without Borders found that Israel killed more journalists in 2025 than any other country.
Euro-Med added that Israel has completely destroyed several towns, refugee camps, and neighborhoods. Satellite images and field testimonies showed Israeli forces leveling areas, removing debris, and transporting it to unknown sites, a move aimed at wiping out traces of mass killings and explosions.
The group cautioned that any delay in granting journalists access will give Israel more time to destroy remaining evidence and rewrite the story of Gaza’s devastation.
“I have no doubt that the prevention of international access, the killings of journalists, the targeting of media facilities, the punishment of [Israeli] outlets like Haaretz is part of a deliberate strategy on the part of Israel to conceal what is happening inside Gaza,” said the CPJ chief executive, Jodie Ginsberg.
