Joining over 250 media organizations, +972 calls on international actors to defend Palestinian journalists and force Israel to open Gaza to foreign press.
Reposted from +972 Magazine, September 01, 2025
Today, +972 Magazine joins over 250 media organizations in a global appeal calling for the protection of Palestinian journalists in Gaza. Launched by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the appeal demands an end to the impunity that has allowed the Israeli army to kill some 200 journalists since October 7, the lifting of Israel’s blockade preventing foreign reporters from entering the Strip, and safe passage for journalists who wish to leave, especially those in need of medical care.
Since the start of the onslaught, Israel has barred foreign journalists from entering Gaza. Despite this, our colleagues inside continue to document Israel’s bombardment under constant threat of death and injury, while also enduring hunger, forced displacement, and an engineered collapse of basic services and medical care. Without them, the world would hardly know what is happening in the besieged and isolated enclave.
CPJ has called the war on Gaza “the deadliest and most deliberate effort to kill and silence journalists” in the organization’s history, putting the number killed at 189. The Gaza Media Center and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate estimate the number at 246, while the UN human rights office (OHCHR) puts it at 247.
Israel’s targeting of journalists is not incidental, but part of a deliberate attempt to silence reporting on atrocities committed against civilians in Gaza. A recent investigation by +972 and Local Call revealed that Israel has created a special team in the military known as the “Legitimization Cell,” tasked with smearing Palestinian journalists as Hamas fighters in an effort to counter global outrage over their killing.
“The media blockade imposed on Gaza, combined with the massacre of nearly 200 journalists by the Israeli army, is enabling the total destruction and erasure of the blockaded territory,” Thibaut Bruttin, director general of RSF, said. “Israeli authorities are banning foreign journalists from entering and ruthlessly asserting their control over information. This is a methodical attempt to silence the facts, suppress the truth, and isolate the Palestinian press and population.
“We call on governments, international institutions and heads of state to end their complicit silence, enforce the immediate opening of Gaza to foreign media, and uphold a principle that is frequently trampled: under international humanitarian law, killing a journalist is a war crime. This principle has been violated far too often and must now be enforced.”
Also on September 1st, 131 journalists from Israel signed a petition “in complete solidarity” with their Palestinian colleagues in Gaza, demanding an immediate end to the killing of journalists, an independent investigation into their killings, unfettered media access to the Strip, and responsible, fact-based reporting by Israeli outlets on the war crimes being committed. The signatories also called for an immediate ceasefire that would enable the release of hostages as part of a broader political agreement.
Journalists are civilians, and their protection is an international obligation. Journalism is essential to exposing what is happening in Gaza and holding those responsible to account. We therefore call on the international community to uphold its duty to protect Palestinian journalists, to allow unrestricted access for foreign reporters, and to guarantee their safety.
RELATED:
- Israel blocking outside journalists from Gaza doesn’t help its cause
- The Palestine Chronicle Case: When Truth Becomes the Crime
- Western Media Manufactured Consent for Israel’s Murder of Palestinian Journalists
- ‘Israel Doesn’t Want Journalists on the Ground’: CNN’s Jeremy Diamond on the Fight to Enter Gaza
- Israel’s army formed special intel unit to ‘justify killing’ of hundreds of Gaza journalists
