* As Israel kills 2 more Palestinian journalists, death toll rises to 231
Several media organisations including Al Jazeera, Anadolu Agency, and Agence France-Press (AFP), have called on the international community to take urgent action as journalists covering Israeli genocide in Gaza continue to face life-threatening conditions amid a deepening humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
The international media bodies made the call barely a day after two more Palestinian journalists were killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza, taking the death toll since October 2023 to 231, Muslim News’ findings revealed.
In separate releases, the mediums urged the media community, press freedom organisations, and relevant legal bodies to take decisive actions to halt the forced starvation and crimes against journalists and media professionals in Gaza.
For more than 21 months, the Israeli bombardment and the systematic starvation of the nearly two million people of Gaza have pushed an entire population to the brink of survival.
The journalists on the ground, who have courageously reported on this ongoing genocide, have risked their lives and the safety of their families to shed light on these atrocities. However, they now find themselves fighting for their own survival.
I’m trembling in exhaustion, says Al Jazeera correspondent
On July 19, Al Jazeera journalists began posting heart-wrenching messages on social media, signalling that their capacity to continue was waning.
One powerful post by Anas al-Shariff, Al Jazeera Arabic channel correspondent in Gaza, stated, “I haven’t stopped covering for a moment in 21 months, and today, I say it outright … And with indescribable pain. I am drowning in hunger, trembling in exhaustion, and resisting the fainting that follows me every moment … Gaza is dying. And we die with it.”
As these brave journalists continue to document the harrowing realities in Gaza, they are often overlooked, reduced to mere informants rather than being acknowledged as witnesses to their own stories.
Journalists struggling to survive in Gaza due to Israeli aggression– Anadolu
In a similar development, Anadolu said Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has evolved into a “deliberate and systematic genocide,” with tens of thousands of civilians, including children, killed.
“Gaza’s population has been subjected to inhumane treatment,” the Turkish news agency said. “Today, the entry of food and medicine into Gaza is being blocked, aid convoys are being targeted, access to basic food supplies is being restricted, and the people of Gaza are being deliberately and intentionally condemned to starvation.”
It expressed particular concern for journalists working in Gaza, including 113 of its own staff, who continue to report under extreme conditions while also struggling to survive.
“Journalists trapped in the deprivation zone the Israeli administration is attempting to construct are carrying out their duties while struggling to survive.
“Alongside our 113 colleagues working in Gaza, the people of Gaza are struggling to survive in an environment where their fundamental right to life is directly targeted by Israel. We are deeply concerned that conditions such as hunger and the shortage of food and water are directly affecting our colleagues on the ground,” the agency said.
Anadolu called on the international community, human rights organizations, journalist associations, and “all people of conscience” to raise their voices in unison against “this darkness.”
Situation now untenable, AFP says reporters’ lives in danger
In her own reaction, AFP urged Israel to facilitate the immediate evacuation of its freelance journalists from Gaza, warning that they face an “appalling” and “untenable” situation in the war-ravaged enclave.
AFP, one of the world’s largest news services, made the appeal on Tuesday after an association of its journalists warned that their colleagues in Gaza were facing starvation.
“Their situation is now untenable, despite their exemplary courage, professional commitment, and resilience.”
While Palestinian freelancers have been “crucial” to informing the world since Israel banned foreign journalists from Gaza, AFP said, Israeli authorities should allow them and their families to immediately evacuate as their “lives are in danger”.
“For months, we have watched helplessly as their living conditions deteriorated dramatically,” the Paris-based agency said in a statement.
Killing of two Palestinian journalists
On the latest killing of two Palestinian journalists, Gaza’s government media office said Tamer Al-Za’anin and Wala’a Ja’bari lost their lives to Israeli army fire, without giving details about the circumstances and location of their deaths.
Local media earlier reported that Al-Za’anin, a photojournalist, had been killed by Israeli forces in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, during a raid to detain Dr. Marwan Al-Hams, director of Gaza field hospitals.
Medical sources also told Anadolu that Ja’bari was killed, along with her husband and four children and her unborn baby, in a strike in eastern Gaza City on Wednesday.
The media office condemned Israel’s systematic assassination of Palestinian reporters in Gaza and called on human rights and media institutions to “condemn these systematic crimes against Gaza journalists.”
Since March 2, Israel has stalled on implementing a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal with the Palestinian group Hamas and has kept Gaza’s border crossings shut, leaving humanitarian aid trucks stranded along the frontier.
Israel has killed more than 59,200 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in the Gaza Strip since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, collapsed the health system, and led to severe food shortages.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
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