MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash) submitted a parliamentary query to Defense Minister Israel Katz on Thursday, July 30, to demand an explanation for Israel’s ban on foreign journalists entering the Gaza Strip.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the Agence France Presse (AFP) in Paris, to protest the killing of Palestinian journalists in Gaza since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal assault. Most protesters wore blue to symbolize press vests (Photo: Anne Paq/Activestills)
“At a time when the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is unbearable, when people are starving to death, Israel continues to block independent journalistic access to the Strip. What are you trying to hide?” Odeh asked.
In addition, journalists from Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Associated Press (AP), BBC World Service, and Reuters called on Israeli authorities to “allow journalists in and out of Gaza,” in a joint statement. The statement from the international media outlets also stated that “It is essential that adequate food supplies reach the people there.” According to the journalists are “desperately concerned” with their colleagues in Gaza, who they claim are “increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families.”
At least 175 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed, several have been injured and others are missing during the war in Gaza. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) condemn the killings and continued attacks on journalists. The IFJ calls for an immediate investigation into their deaths.
On last days, on July 30, the PJS reported the killing of photojournalist and PJS member Ibrahim Mahmoud Hajaj because of Israeli shelling in the Al-Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City. On 24 July, an Israeli airstrike killed journalist Adam Abu Harbid along with his family in the Yarmouk area in central Gaza City. On 23 July, an Israeli airstrike killed journalist Walaa Al Jabari along with her entire family in Gaza City. Al-Jabari, who was pregnant, was killed when her home in Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood in southwest Gaza City was bombed, according to
Media and PJS. On 22 July, PJS reported the killing of freelance journalist Tamer Rabhi Rafiq Al Za’anin, who was killed because of direct gunfire from Israeli forces in the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Yunis, southern Gaza.
IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: “Media workers in areas of armed conflict must be treated and protected as civilians and allowed to perform their work without interference. The IFJ calls on all combatants in this conflict to do their utmost to safeguard journalists and media professionals. There is intense and deeply concerned interest in this conflict all round the world, but people will only be able to understand what is really going on if journalists are allowed to do their work”.
