Support Gaza press freedom, says IFJ

Ahead of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) spotlights Gaza, Palestine, and condemns the killing of more than one hundred journalists and media workers since the war started. This has been a prolonged onslaught on press freedom and the world's 'right to know', as have the arbitrary arrests and intimidation. The Federation calls on governments across the world, and particularly the Israeli government, to protect the lives of journalists and press freedom in accordance with international obligations.

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Credit: IFJ.

The journalists' death toll in Gaza is without precedent. At least 109journalists and media workers have been killed in the Gaza war since 7 October: 102 Palestinians, four Israelisand three Lebanese, according to IFJ data. It is one of the deadliest conflicts ever for the media and yet, there is another critical casualty: press freedom.

Since the Israeli government blocked civilian access to the Gaza Strip on 7 October, following the attack by Hamas, only Palestinian journalists based in the enclave and, to a very limited extent, international media crews embedded with the Israeli military under controlled conditions, have been able to report on the ground. The IFJ has several times called onIsrael to let foreign press enter Gaza, and stop hindering journalists' work and the public's right to freedom of expression.

"It is a matter of global public interest that not only local but also international journalists bear witness and document the ongoing war in Gaza. Prolonging the ban on entering the enclave is denying the world a true picture of events in Gaza and it deliberately infringes freedom of the press. This is why on World Press Freedom Day, we call upon Israel to stop targeting journalists and infringing press freedom - actions that are unfitting of a democracy," said IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger.

Despite suffering terrible losses or being injured themselves, local journalists have become the world's eyes and ears and the sole source of information from Gaza to the world.

The IFJ and its affiliate the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate (PJS) have worked closely to raise solidarity funds to provide emergency support to Gaza's journalists through the IFJ Safety Fundwith the outstanding solidarityof journalists' unions.

Next joint efforts will be focusing on rebuilding the media landscape in Gaza. Thanks to the support of the IFJ's Canadian affiliate Uniforand the Norwegian Union of Journalists, solidarity newsrooms will be establishedin the enclave.

The PJS, which has a branch in Gaza, will clear safety concerns with the Israeli military to ensure that everyone allowed in the IFJ-PJS solidarity newsrooms is a professional journalist to avoid targeting by the IDF.

As the war drags on, more funds are needed for rebuilding Gaza's media landscape and supporting the work of Palestinian journalists, such as the IFJ-PJS newsrooms project. All donations count and can be made here.

On World Press Freedom Day, theIFJ restates its calls for the urgent adoption of a binding international instrumentthat will strengthen press freedom by forcing governments to investigate and respond to attacks against the media.

IFJ president Dominique Pradalié said: "Since the adoption of the Windhoek Declarationin 1991, little has been done to better safeguard journalists in international law or conventions. The freedom and security that journalists require to do their jobs is absent in many parts of the world. Today, Israel appears determined to silence Gaza's journalists, including targeting them. Crimes against journalists must not go unpunished. We urge governments across the world to publicly acknowledge their support for a binding international instrument that protects journalists. By adopting such a Convention against impunity, the United Nations General Assembly will assert unequivocally that massacres against journalists, such as the one ongoing in Gaza, will not be repeated".