Gaza: The Hunt for the Journalist
Since the start of the offensive in October 2023, Israel has killed 238 Palestinian journalists working in Gaza, a figure reported by the Hamas-controlled Gaza government and endorsed by the United Nations (UN). Add to this Israel's ban on entry to international journalists, and the media blackout sought by the Netanyahu government to ensure impunity is almost total. Yet, despite professionals literally risking their lives, the images and data that continue to be disseminated speak for themselves: Israel is committing an inhumane genocide, starving a defenseless and exhausted population. This hunger and violence are also affecting journalists. No one escapes the policy of extermination that Israel is implementing in a devastated Gaza Strip.
The five Palestinian professionals killed this Monday worked for Al Jazeera, the main foreign media outlet reporting from Gaza, and one of the most important and prestigious in the Arab world. In fact, Israel has banned Al Jazeera from broadcasting on its territory. Thus, Israeli citizens are partly hijacked for information. And yet, the internal clamor within Israel is growing to stop the massacre in the face of evidence that the Tel Aviv government, contrary to its proposals, has failed to free all the hostages or destroy Hamas.
To mitigate global criticism of the military hunt for Palestinian journalists, accused by Israel without evidence of collaborating with Hamas, Netanyahu said this Monday that two days ago he ordered that foreign journalists be allowed into Gaza. This permission remains to be seen to what extent it is actually real and what guarantees of freedom of action and security it offers. Especially since the Israeli prime minister himself has just announced that he is preparing to launch a new military operation to conquer Gaza City.
Unfortunately, the death of journalist Anas al-Sharif and his team was already foretold. The United Nations denounced just two weeks ago, on July 25, thatIsrael was trying to "silence" This reporter, as explained by Irene Khan, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression. "Fears for Al-Sharif's safety are well-founded, as there is growing evidence that journalists in Gaza have been targeted and killed by the Israeli military based on unsubstantiated claims that they were Hamas terrorists," Khan said at the time. Unfortunately, her fears have been confirmed.
Israel's genocidal war on Gaza continues unabated. Netanyahu continues to rely on the key complicity of Trump's United States and a Europe that, although it has begun to speak out, is nowhere near determined or united to stop him. And meanwhile, on the ground, there are fewer and fewer media professionals who can bear witness to the endless barbarity experienced by the Palestinian people.