French journalist associations call ‘once again’ for unrestricted Gaza access

LONDON: Nearly 30 journalist societies, mostly based in France, have renewed their call for unrestricted media access to Gaza while urging Israeli authorities to guarantee the safety of media workers “trapped” in the enclave reporting under “unprecedented circumstances.”

In a column published on Tuesday in Le Monde, the group, including journalist associations from France24, Arte, and Reporters Without Borders, pressed for Israel to allow international media into Gaza.

“Already condemned a year ago, this situation is unprecedented. As in every armed conflict, it is up to newsrooms to weigh up the risks of sending their journalists to war zones, as they do throughout the world,” read the article which was written in French, Hebrew and Arabic.

The group argued that preventing journalists from operating freely has allowed disinformation to spread unchecked, with falsehoods becoming “weapons of war used by all sides.”

Theodora column continued: “The right to inform and be informed is the cornerstone of our democracies. It is a fundamental freedom, enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

It added: “We therefore call on the Israeli authorities to protect the safety of the journalists currently trying to work in Gaza, and to open this territory to the international press so that it can do its job: Inform without hindrance and bear witness to the progress of this war, one of the most deadly and violent of the early 21st century.”

Despite international pressure, Israel has barred foreign media from entering Gaza, forcing outlets to rely on stained local journalists operating in a war zone.

German media outlets made a similar request to Israel in mid-September, calling the exclusion of international media “unprecedented in recent history.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists has recorded the deaths of at least 128 media workers, almost all Palestinian, since the start of the conflict, marking it as the deadliest war for journalists since records began in 1992.