Hello, are you able to share more information around how foreign journalists report on gaza? I only learned recently about the how israel has gaza under blockade, and that it also has to give foreign journalists permission to enter and report. I've heard that there are no foreign journalists in at the moment except for CNN, which has embedded with the Israeli army and uncritically shared a paper with days of the week in arabic and presented it as evidence of terrorism (good journalism!) I don't know very much, but from what I can tell al jazeera is the only like, big press that actually has reporters in gaza and offers english language reports. When i go to other sources like CBC or BBC and see where they're reporting from it's usually somewhere in Egypt or israel but they don't disclose at the top why they aren't reporting from gaza. Idk maybe im just dumb and the blockade on journalists is a widely known thing but i felt pretty deceived that international press don't bring up that they aren't permitted into gaza by the israeli gov
aljazeera actually isn't the only outlet with local correspondents, though it might seem like it.
the bbc, NPR, AP and several other corporations also have reporters on the ground in gaza—palestinian correspondents. some of them are freelance photojournalists for outlets like the NYT and some are employed by the local AP or reuters or bbc bureaus (that israel has in fact bombed in 2021) the bbc's palestinian correspondent is rushdi abu alouf. the lebanese correspondent who was killed in lebanon worked for reuters.
this is partly why a lot of arab journalists have been appalled by the complete disregard these western media outlets have for their colleagues. as hind khoudary put it:
western agencies do not clearly disclose that the only thing preventing foreign reporters from going in is the israeli blockade. israeli controls everything coming in and out of gaza.
this article from the washington post It’s becoming impossible to report from Gaza highlights the difficulties faced by local journalists, but it says:
In an interview, Mansour said Israel’s recent history of targeting media exacerbated the current reporting crisis in Gaza. In May 2021, Israel bombed a building in Gaza that housed the offices for the Associated Press and Al Jazeera. In May 2022, Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot in the head while reporting in the West Bank. The Israeli military initially claimed that Abu Akleh had been killed in crossfire with Palestinian fighters, but numerous independent investigations, including by The Washington Post, concluded that Israeli forces were probably responsible.
Mansour said these cases have changed the risk calculations for international journalists — leaving local photo and freelance journalists to do the job of covering conflict in Gaza and the West Bank.
this makes it sound like its security issues that keep foreign journalists from entering gaza, right? but in fact, an earlier article from the washington post News networks ‘scrambling’ to get journalists to Israel puts it far more plainly:
But at least one massive logistical challenge remains: getting into Gaza.
CBS News foreign correspondent Holly Williams has been reporting from the Israeli border town of Sderot, which is only a few miles from Gaza. Williams reported from Gaza in 2014 and 2021, but said it’s not possible right now to get there. “Even in normal times — and right now it is not a normal time — it is very difficult logistically to get into Gaza, because you need permission from the Israeli side,” she said. “I think a lot of journalists would like to be covering what’s happening in Gaza right now, but it comes with some very obvious dangers.”
“Gaza is impossible to reach right now,” said Fox’s Yingst, though he argued that the “logistics are easier than in other conflict zones I’ve reported from.”
to put it simply: israel prevents international journalists from getting into gaza and only allows them to embed with its own military where it can approve everything they put out. embedded journalism has historical precedent in reporting on wars, although it may be interesting to note that during the iraq war journalists who spoke arabic were sidelined by the US military once they realized that the journalists could communicate directly with civilians.
a petition signed by over 100 french journalists has made this very clear:
“We were able to record the stories of the victims of Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, we need to work in security to report on what is happening in Gaza [...] let us enter the Gaza Strip so that we can do our job. We understand the risks,” reads the missive.
Since the blockade Israel imposed on Gaza 16 years ago, journalists cannot enter the Palestinian territory without authorisation from Israeli authorities. With the outbreak of the latest war, “Israeli authorities are not letting us (journalists) enter the Gaza Strip [...] the other possibility would be to enter through Rafah but we cannot enter because the crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt is closed,” journalist Céline Martelet, who signed the petition, said to FRANCE 24.
The international media has continued reporting on the situation in Gaza despite the restrictions, but there is a glaring disparity between the quantity and quality of information coming out of Israel and Gaza.
israel may claim this is for their own safety but there's also a history of foreign journalists getting killed by israel in the gaza strip or witnessing israel bombing children on a beach and consequently contradicting israel's version of events
tldr; yes israel has a blockade on international journalists entering gaza, and only allows them to embed with the idf. it should also be noted that both hamas and many palestinians have invited international bodies to enter gaza and disprove israeli propaganda for themselves multiple times, particularly for claims that hospitals were operating as terrorist headquarters. medical personnel, the red cross, and other NGOs have asked for international oversight and intervention repeatedly. only one party has total control over every border in gaza.
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