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<h1 class="gmail-single_title">Blocking international media:
Israeli institutional collusion to conceal genocide crimes in
Gaza</h1>
<p class="gmail-single_date">Sunday 26-October-2025</p>
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<p>GAZA, (PIC)</p>
<p>Since the outbreak of the genocide war on Gaza, Israeli
occupation authorities have shut down all routes leading to
the Strip for international journalists. More than two years
into the genocide and destruction, the Israeli Supreme Court
continues to grant the government additional extensions to
respond to petitions demanding journalists be allowed entry, a
scene that exposes a deliberate stalling strategy aimed at
prolonging media isolation and erasing evidence of the crimes
committed.</p>
<p>While the occupation authorities insist on justifying the ban
with \u201csecurity considerations,\u201d human rights and international
organizations view this prohibition as a conscious attempt to
monopolize the narrative and hide the truth from the world\u2019s
eyes.</p>
<p>The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) stated that the
Israeli court\u2019s decision prolongs the exclusion of
international media from covering the war and its humanitarian
consequences in Gaza, noting that the Israeli government
requested yet another postponement, the seventh since the
beginning of the year.</p>
<p>The committee called on the international community to
pressure Israel to lift the restrictions immediately,
emphasizing that the continued ban represents a flagrant
violation of press freedom and the public\u2019s right to
information.</p>
<p>CPJ\u2019s CEO Jodie Ginsberg said, \u201cIt is unacceptable that
international journalists are still waiting to independently
cover events from inside Gaza,\u201d stressing that \u201cthe public\u2019s
right to know cannot be suspended for political or security
reasons.\u201d</p>
<p>During the most recent court session, the Israeli attorney
general admitted that \u201cthe situation in the Strip has
changed,\u201d but requested another month before reviewing the
government\u2019s position, claiming that Israel \u201cplans to renew
army-escorted journalist visits\u201d inside what it calls the
\u201cyellow zone\u201d, the area where its forces have been stationed
since the ceasefire was announced two weeks ago , describing
the situation as \u201csensitive and difficult to assess.\u201d</p>
<p
class="gmail-has-vivid-red-color gmail-has-text-color gmail-has-link-color gmail-wp-elements-43d640d9161f67e21ac138155c286520">A
propaganda tool</p>
<p>CPJ described the Israeli army\u2019s journalist escorts as a
\u201cpropaganda tool,\u201d noting that journalists are allowed into
Gaza only for a few hours under tight supervision, with no
freedom of movement or contact with Palestinians, a violation
of international standards for independent reporting.</p>
<p>The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which includes 113
media institutions from 56 countries, also urged Israeli
authorities to allow full and free access for journalists to
Gaza after the ceasefire, asserting that Israeli restrictions
undermine the principles of media freedom, transparency, and
accountability, and are no longer acceptable under any
\u201csecurity\u201d justification.</p>
<p>The union affirmed that \u201cjournalists are the eyes and ears of
the world,\u201d and their presence in the field is vital to
document events, verify information, and assess humanitarian
needs in the Strip.</p>
<p>In June, more than 200 media outlets signed an open letter
urging the occupation authorities to grant journalists
unrestricted access to Gaza.</p>
<p
class="gmail-has-vivid-red-color gmail-has-text-color gmail-has-link-color gmail-wp-elements-d7e72af6a99b972f4f41047df8893d17">Flimsy
pretexts</p>
<p>The journalists\u2019 petition was part of a series of demands
beginning in December 2023, when the Foreign Press Association
in Jerusalem (representing international journalists working
in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza) filed a request with the
Israeli Supreme Court for entry to Gaza. The occupation
authorities claimed that allowing journalists in would
\u201cendanger army soldiers.\u201d</p>
<p>In January 2024, the Supreme Court upheld the ban, claiming
that the security concerns were not only about the army but
also the journalists\u2019 personal safety. The same justification
was repeated in February 2025.</p>
<p>Christophe Deloire, Secretary-General of Reporters Without
Borders (RSF), said that the destruction of Palestinian media
outlets and the prevention of foreign journalists from
entering Gaza indicate that the occupation authorities \u201cwant
to conceal the reality on the ground.\u201d</p>
<p>He said earlier that the destruction and ban prevent
international media from verifying facts and severely harm
balanced coverage of this devastating conflict for civilians.</p>
<p>Deloire demanded that Israel lift the ban on foreign
journalists\u2019 entry to Gaza, describing it as \u201ca blatant
violation of press freedom,\u201d stressing that Israel\u2019s
justifications are baseless, \u201cThe Israeli government has no
right to decide on behalf of journalists whether they go to
Gaza or not, that\u2019s their decision.\u201d</p>
<p
class="gmail-has-vivid-red-color gmail-has-text-color gmail-has-link-color gmail-wp-elements-e2b60fa710f7d7eedbf6c685e20c6048">A
fragmented picture</p>
<p>International media outlets rely heavily on local Palestinian
journalists working in Gaza as correspondents or stringers,
many of whom have long collaborated with editorial teams and
bureau offices outside the Strip.</p>
<p>Despite repeatedly accusing Palestinian journalists of
lacking objectivity, Israel continues to bar most
international journalists from entering Gaza, allowing only a
small, selected group for brief visits, \u201cembedded\u201d within
Israeli army units.</p>
<p>These journalists and the material they produce, reports and
photos, are subject to military censorship. Israeli writer
Stav Levaton confirmed that foreign journalists enter only
through tightly controlled military programs, in which
selected Israeli and foreign reporters are brought to Gaza
under army supervision with no freedom of movement.</p>
<p>In an article published in The Times of Israel on July 30,
she wrote, \u201cThese visits are usually short, heavily monitored,
and prevent any free interaction with Palestinian civilians,
drawing criticism from press freedom advocates who argue this
falls far short of genuine journalistic independence.\u201d</p>
<p>Levaton also noted that the personal safety risks for foreign
journalists \u201care not hypothetical, Palestinian journalists in
Gaza, including those working for international agencies, have
come under direct Israeli fire and suffer the same dire
humanitarian conditions as other civilians.\u201d</p>
<p>According to data from Gaza\u2019s Government Media Office, 254
journalists have been killed since the start of the war, most
in direct airstrikes or deliberate assassinations by the
Israeli army.</p>
<p>Levaton added that the Israeli government \u201cis acutely aware
of how it is perceived internationally and thus has a clear
interest in avoiding reports of foreign journalists,
especially from allied countries, being killed or injured
while covering the war.\u201d</p>
<p
class="gmail-has-vivid-red-color gmail-has-text-color gmail-has-link-color gmail-wp-elements-fc78f293876aabb5e566d47fe768d2b5">An
information void</p>
<p>Despite the vital role of social media in conveying the
Palestinian narrative in a raw and unfiltered way, Tania
Krämer, head of the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem,
argues that the lack of \u201creliable news sources\u201d in Gaza,
referring to international media banned from entry, has
created an information vacuum filled by citizen journalists
through social platforms.</p>
<p>She said, \u201cWhile social media provides us with information,
verifying it is difficult and time-consuming. Posts often lack
key details like time, place, and source attribution, and
original footage is frequently taken out of context or
altered. Without independent access to the field, traditional
media are left with fragmented accounts, making it hard to
distinguish truth from misinformation and propaganda.\u201d</p>
<p>Krämer continued, \u201cThe burden of media coverage should not
fall solely on our Palestinian colleagues in Gaza, especially
now as they endure extreme hardship, risking their lives to
report while struggling to feed their families.\u201d</p>
<p>She warned that if Palestinian journalists become unable to
continue working under such deteriorating conditions, and
foreign correspondents remain banned, \u201cthe flow of information
could stop entirely. It\u2019s hard to imagine such a scenario.
Many journalists rely on their Palestinian colleagues, they
pave the way for us and serve as our eyes and ears.\u201d</p>
<p>According to Krämer, the disappearance of Gaza\u2019s journalists
would only worsen the information void, giving both sides more
room to distort reality. Reaching such a situation, where both
Palestinian and foreign journalists are accused of bias or
dishonesty, would make things even more difficult.</p>
<p
class="gmail-has-vivid-red-color gmail-has-text-color gmail-has-link-color gmail-wp-elements-6e08f59822b07aad9e4d60fdae2e4031">Institutional
collusion</p>
<p>In this context, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor
stressed that the ban on foreign journalists reflects Israel\u2019s
policy of monopolizing the narrative and hiding the truth by
controlling the media landscape and preventing victims from
sharing their stories with the world.</p>
<p>The Monitor said that the Israeli Supreme Court\u2019s decision to
give the government extra time before allowing independent
journalists into Gaza \u201creveals institutional collusion within
the Israeli state apparatus, as the judiciary provides a legal
cover for government policies designed to block transparency
and erase field evidence.\u201d</p>
<p>It added that preventing journalists and international
investigators from entering Gaza is part of a comprehensive
policy adopted by Israel\u2019s executive, security, and judicial
branches to keep war crimes beyond international scrutiny and
obstruct any independent accountability for grave violations
in the Strip.</p>
<p>The rights organization concluded that these measures amount
to a deliberate effort to erase traces of the crimes and turn
half of Gaza into a forbidden zone off-limits to journalists,
researchers, and aid teams, a blatant violation of the core
principles of international humanitarian law and international
court rulings obligating Israel to preserve and not destroy
evidence.</p>
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