Starving of journalists in Gaza “silences the truth”
Agence France-Presse’s journalists’ union warns its colleagues at serious risk of starvation.
© Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate
The NUJ joins the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in calling for action to end of the starvation of the remaining press working in Gaza.
It follows a statement from the Agence France-Presse’s (AFP) journalists’ union, the Societe des Journalistes (SDJ), warning that its colleagues in Gaza are at serious risk of starvation and demanding urgent intervention to evacuate them: “We risk learning of their deaths at any moment, and this is unbearable for us [...] We refuse to see them die.”
According to an account from the UN World Food Programme on 21 July, the besieged Gaza strip is enduring a “hunger crisis”, which has “reached new and astonishing levels of desperation, with a third of the population not eating for multiple days in a row.”
The IFJ has demanded that governments across the world, the United Nations General Assembly and the international community take urgent action in Gaza and that restrictions on humanitarian aid be lifted. The Federation has also reiterated its call for the Israeli government to allow foreign journalists to access the enclave and to stop infringing the public’s right to know.
The IFJ’s Vice-President and president of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS), Nasser Abu Bakr, called on the media “to report on the unprecedented tragedy that are the genocide and the starvation taking place in Gaza.”
Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary, said:
"This is a chilling warning by AFP and is a grim reminder of the reality faced by those seeking to report from Gaza.
"No journalist should face starvation for doing their job. These journalists are bearing witness in the most difficult and dangerous of situations and the NUJ reiterates the call for the international community to respond with urgent action, help those still reporting in Gaza and ensure that the foreign press is allowed in.
“We stand in solidarity with the PJS and will continue to work with the International Federation of Journalists in highlighting this inhumane and degrading treatment of our colleagues."
Anthony Bellanger, IFJ general secretary, said:
“It is imperative that the Israeli government stops weaponising starvation against the people of Gaza. Local reporters are the only ones bearing witness to Israel’s atrocities, and starving them to death means silencing the truth, which is considered a war crime according to the International Criminal Court.
“We urge governments across the world, the United Nations General Assembly and the international community to intervene to halt this human-made catastrophe and to put pressure on the Israeli government to allow foreign journalists to enter Gaza and facilitate the evacuations of local journalists in need.”
UPDATE: On 22 July, PJS reported that freelance journalist Tamer Rabhi Rafiq Al Za'anin had been fatally shot by Israeli forces in southern Gaza. The following day an Israeli airstrike killed pregnant journalist Walaa Al Jabari along with her husband and four children in their home in Gaza City. On 24 July, another Israeli airstrike on Gaza City killed photojournalist Adam Abu Harbid and his family.According to the IFJ's records, at least 188 journalists - including 174 Palestinians - have been killed in what is the deadliest war for media workers in recent history.