Protect journalists in Gaza

MaltaToday has today joined the Global Blackout Day for Gaza Press Freedom, an initiative to show solidarity with journalists who have been killed in the Palestinian enclave by the Israeli military.

We join other media houses and journalists from around the world in demanding unfettered access for international media into Gaza. Since Israel started its siege on the enclave, international journalists have been barred from entering Gaza to document the carnage and suffering happening there. Palestinian journalists inside the territory have either been killed or are unable to perform their work freely because like the rest of the population are suffering from hunger, constant displacement and fear of being targeted.

The initiative was born in the aftermath of the murder of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues at the hands of the Israeli military. Since then, five other journalists were directly targeted in a double attack on a hospital in Gaza by the Israeli military.

Israel’s relentless war on Palestinians in Gaza has left thousands of civilians dead. Neighbourhoods have been flattened. Hospitals have been bombed. Schools have been turned into makeshift shelters, only to be attacked. And journalists have been killed.

The devastating toll of reporters killed since this war began has been incredible. Palestinian journalists are being killed at a rate unseen in modern history. With independent foreign press still barred from entering, the world is left with propaganda and curated “tours”. We need independent reporting to understand what is happening in Gaza; to document the suffering, the fear, the destruction and the wounds this war is creating.

Israel is perpetrating a genocide in Gaza; it is using hunger as a weapon of war. The enclave, only a few square kilometres larger than Malta, is an open-air prison where people get pushed around from one supposed safe space to another, while being shot at, bombed and starved.

Of course, we demand that Hamas release all hostages it took when it attacked Israeli communities in October 2023. Of course, Hamas must answer for its murderous actions.

But what we have been witnessing in Gaza for the past 22 months is the slow, premeditated destruction of a nation through killings, humiliation and famine. Any pretence of self-defence by Israel has long been thrown out of the window.

Israeli ministers have gone on record speaking of the eradication of Palestinians from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. Israeli ministers have shot down the two-state solution and would rather see Palestinians relocating elsewhere as if they are objects that can be moved at will. These are not the words and actions of a country that wants peace. These are the words and actions of a government that craves war.

And in all this destruction, Israel prevents foreign journalists from being present in the enclave to document the truth. The excuse is that Gaza is a war zone and journalists will be putting themselves at risk.

Israel should know that journalists have been visiting war zones all over the world at their own risk. Journalists have reported from the frontlines in every continent. Gaza will be another war zone for the more seasoned reporters. Israel need not worry about the safety of journalists. Journalists can worry about their own safety. What Israel needs to do is stop targeting journalists.

Israel is not worried about the safety of journalists; it is only worried about the truth that can emerge if journalists are given unfettered access into Gaza.