CrossFireArabia
US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he “would like to see” Israel allow international journalists report from the besieged Gaza Strip.
Since October 2023, Israel has barred international journalists from entering Gaza, with rare exceptions granted for highly curated embeds with the Israeli military. Most reporting from Gaza has come from local Palestinian reporters, at least 184 journalists of whom have been killed by Israel since the war began, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists according to Anadolu.
“I would like to see it happen. I would be very fine with journalists going in,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s a very dangerous position to be in, as you know, if you’re a journalist, but I would like to see it.”
Late Sunday, Al Jazeera Arabic’s Gaza correspondents Anas al-Sharif, Mohamed Qraiqea, and three others were killed in an Israeli strike targeting a journalists’ tent near the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has pursued a brutal military offensive on Gaza since October 2023, killing more than 61,000 Palestinians, almost half of them women and children. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.
Despite mounting international concerns about escalating ethnic cleansing and genocide against Palestinians, Israel’s Security Cabinet on Friday approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to expand military operations and occupy Gaza City.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice, in its interim ruling on Gaza last year, said that it is “plausible” that Israel’s actions could amount to genocide.
The court issued provisional measures, requiring Israel to abide by international law and ensure aid and services reach Palestinians under siege in Gaza.
