World Press Demands Free Access Into Gaza

CrossFireArabia
News
July 16, 2024

Over 70 international media and civil society organizations call on Israel to lift restrictions on foreign media from entering Gaza and allow journalists independent access to report the current Israeli war on the enclave.

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. pic.twitter.com/73XbsQf8uO
— 1cananews (@1cananews) July 15, 2024

Their call have come in a form of a letter to the Israeli government to be granted such access and include prestigious media organizations such as BBC News, The New York Times, the AFP news agency, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, and the European Federation of Journalists.

The letter is made in coordination with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Media organizations urge #Israel to open access to #Gaza.

“More than 100 journalists have been killed since the start of the war and those who remain are working in conditions of extreme deprivation. The result is that information from Gaza is becoming harder and harder to… pic.twitter.com/YcRQlW8ULW
— Committee to Protect Journalists (@pressfreedom) July 11, 2024

“More than 100 journalists have been killed since the start of the war and those who remain are working in conditions of extreme 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 media organizations state in the letter.

The letter stated that after nine months of war on Gaza it is high time the Israeli military grant the international media free access and not through 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.”

"Where shall we bury him? The whole of Gaza has become a graveyard"

Awful suffering in Gaza City, as Palestinian journalists document the aftermath of Israeli strikes during a fresh assault

With @YousefHammash @freyapickford1 pic.twitter.com/e1fxfF62lV
— Secunder Kermani (@SecKermani) July 9, 2024

CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg noted: “President Netanyahu describes Israel as a democracy. His actions with regard to the media tell a different story. 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.”

The full letter is printed on the CPJ website together with the list signatories from at least 26 countries.

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

News

Palestinian Journalists Under Attack – 55 Israeli Violations in May

CrossFireArabia
June 9, 2026

The Palestinian Journalists Association (PJA) announced, Monday, it documented 55 violations by Israeli occupation soldiers against Palestinian journalists in last May. It described such violations are part of a systematic policy to restrict and prevent West Bank and Gaza journalists to carry out their professional duties.

The PJA’s Freedoms Committee said in a press statement to Quds Press the Israeli occupation continues its violations against journalists and media workers to limit their ability to report the truth and document attacks and violations against Palestinians.

The documented violations during May included two injuries from live ammunition while covering events in the field, two arbitrary arrests, and 30 cases of detention and prevention from working and covering events.

The committee also recorded five cases of direct gunfire directed at journalists, five attacks using tear gas and stun grenades, in addition to two cases of confiscation of journalistic equipment and two cases of physical assault on journalists.

The violations include two cases of journalists being barred from covering news at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, one of a media outlet being raided and shut down, another of a journalist being brought before a court and three cases of journalists summoned and interrogated.

The committee affirmed that these practices constitute a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions, and international covenants on freedom of opinion and expression, which stipulate the protection of journalists while performing their professional duties in conflict zones.

It added that the escalating targeting of journalists reflects a systematic approach aimed at restricting media coverage and preventing the dissemination of information about the reality and violations suffered by the Palestinian people. The committee noted that the occupation continues to use various means to suppress media work and obstruct the public’s access to information.

The Committee for Freedoms called on international human rights and media organizations, as well as the United Nations, to uphold their legal and moral responsibilities, pressure the occupation authorities to cease their ongoing violations against Palestinian journalists, hold those responsible accountable, and provide the necessary protection for media workers.

The PJA announced last May it documented nearly 300 Israeli crimes, violations, and attacks against Palestinian journalists since the beginning of 2026 and the trend is set to continue judging from the scale of esclation against media workers.

The press association indicated at the time the number of journalists killed reached 262 since the outbreak of the war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, including 261 journalists murdered in the Gaza Strip, in addition to six journalists killed since the beginning of 2026.

This comes at a time when Israeli attacks against Palestinians continue in various areas, amid increasing complaints about the targeting of journalists, the obstruction of their work, and the prevention of their coverage of events on the ground and their reporting to the public.

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