London (Quds News Network)- Israel’s continued prevention of international journalists from entering Gaza appears to be motivated less by concerns for their safety and more by a desire to avoid proper “scrutiny and accountability regarding the “desperate situation” in the enclave, which has been inaccessible to foreign media for over 20 months amid intense bombardment, wrote an Executive Editor at Sky News. Jonathan Levy, Executive Editor and Managing Director of Sky News UK, wrote in an analysis that Israel has repeatedly denied that its military targets women and children and react with outrage to the suggestion that it is responsible for ethnic cleansing or genocide in Gaza. However, he added, “Israel's confidence in the integrity of its wartime conduct is not matched by a willingness to allow international journalists into Gaza to witness what is going on there for themselves.” For the course of its longest war, no reporters have been permitted entry to Gaza other than on “organised and controlled 'embeds' of a few hours alongside Israeli soldiers,” he wrote. Israeli officials claimed that the safety of reporters could not be ensured. But journalists from Sky News and fellow news organisations have operated in Gaza in previous wars, Levy noted, adding “the risks are real, for sure. But they're risks that we accept. It's what we do.” Levy added, “The ongoing denial of access to Gaza feels much less about the safety of journalists and more about preventing proper scrutiny and accountability of the desperate situation there.” “The barring of international journalists is accompanied by the active delegitimization of what reporting on the war has been possible which is often shamefully labelled as anti-Semitic and compared to the darkest periods in Jewish history.” He continued, “All together this constitutes a war on truth that is at odds with Israel's proud and oft-repeated claim to be the Middle East's only democracy and it should not be allowed to stand.” The writer highlighted the Palestinian journalists reporting from Gaza, noting that they “have paid a heavy price for their work." According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, at least 227 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Israeli attacks since the start of the ongoing Israeli offensive in October 2023. The head of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said the Gaza Strip is “witnessing the largest massacre of journalists in history.” Reporters Without Borders said last month in its World Press Freedom Index 2025 that Israeli forces killed nearly 200 journalists and media workers in the first 18 months of its war in Gaza, at least 42 of whom were killed while doing their job, adding that Palestine has become the world’s most dangerous state for journalists amid the Israeli war. “Trapped in the enclave, journalists in Gaza have no shelter and lack everything, including food and water,” said the Paris-based group, which is also known by its French acronym RSF. Israel’s assault on Gaza has been the “worst ever conflict” for journalists, according to a recent report by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. The report, titled News Graveyards: How Dangers to War Reporters Endanger the World, said the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip had “killed more journalists than the US Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War (including the conflicts in Cambodia and Laos), the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and 2000s, and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan, combined”. “In 2023, a journalist or media worker was, on average, killed or murdered every four days. In 2024, it was once every three days,” said the report. “Most reporters harmed or killed, as is the case in Gaza, are local journalists.” The Center for Protecting Palestinian Journalists (PJPS) said that the killing of journalists is part of a series of human rights violations committed by the Israeli occupation. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) chief Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement, “The war in Gaza is unprecedented in its impact on journalists and demonstrates a major deterioration in global norms on protecting journalists in conflict zones, but it is far from the only place journalists are in danger.” The advocacy group also accused Israel of attempting to stifle investigations into the killings, shift blame onto journalists for their own deaths, and ignoring its duty to hold its own military personnel accountable for the killings of so many media workers. In a recent report, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) described 2024 as “one of the worst years” for media professionals. It condemned the “massacre taking place in Palestine before the eyes of the entire world.”