GAZA — The Associated Press, AFP, BBC News, and Reuters issued a joint statement on Thursday expressing deep concern for their journalists in Gaza, who are “increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families” as Israel continues to block aid from entering the enclave for over four months.
“We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families,” the four major news organizations said.
“For many months, these independent journalists have been the world’s eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza. They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering.”
“Journalists endure many deprivations and hardships in warzones. We are deeply alarmed that the threat of starvation is now one of them.”
The statement called on Israel to allow journalists in and out of Gaza and allow adequate food supplies into the territory.
“We once again urge the Israeli authorities to allow journalists in and out of Gaza. It is essential that adequate food supplies reach the people there.”
On Wednesday, Al Jazeera Media Network also urged the journalistic community, press freedom organisations, and relevant legal bodies to “take decisive action” to halt Israel’s “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 network said in a statement on Wednesday.
It added: “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.”
On July 19, Al Jazeera journalists began posting heart-wrenching messages on social media, signalling that their capacity to continue was waning.
“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,” Anas al-Sharif of Al Jazeera wrote.
Mostefa Souag, director general of Al Jazeera Media Network, commenting on the plight of journalists in Gaza, stated, “We owe it to the courageous journalists in Gaza to amplify their voices and put an end to the unbearable suffering they are enduring due to forced starvation and targeted killings by Israeli occupation forces.”
“The journalistic community and the world bear an immense responsibility; it is our duty to raise our voices and mobilise all available means to support our colleagues in this noble profession. If we fail to act now, we risk a future where there may be no one left to tell our stories. Our inaction will be recorded in history as a monumental failure to protect our fellow journalists and a betrayal of the principles that every journalist strives to uphold,” he added.
At least 231 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since the start of the ongoing genocide in October 2023.
On Sunday, AFP also issued a grave warning: its reporters in Gaza may soon die of hunger, a tragedy the agency has never faced in its 80-year history.
“For the first time, we fear losing colleagues to starvation,” the agency’s Journalists’ Society (SDJ) said in a statement. “We have seen war wounds, imprisonment, and death in the field, but never this.”
The warnings come as the death toll from Israel’s starvation siege continues to rise.
A total of 111 people, including 81 children, have died due to hunger and malnutrition since the start of the genocide in October 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry on Wednesday.
Over 100 humanitarian organizations, including Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and Oxfam, warned on Wednesday that “mass starvation” is spreading across Gaza, with their colleagues in the enclave wasting away from hunger as Israel continues to block the entry of aid for more than four months.
“Doctors report record rates of acute malnutrition, especially among children and older people,” they said in a statement.
“Illnesses like acute watery diarrhoea are spreading, markets are empty, waste is piling up, and adults are collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration.”
“Distributions in Gaza average just 28 trucks a day, far from enough for over two million people, many of whom have gone weeks without assistance,” they said. “The UN-led humanitarian system has not failed, it has been prevented from functioning.”
The NGOs said governments must stop waiting for permission to act.
“It is time to take decisive action: demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire; lift all bureaucratic and administrative restrictions; open all land crossings; ensure access to everyone in all of Gaza; reject military-controlled distribution models; restore a principled, UN-led humanitarian response and continue to fund principled and impartial humanitarian organisations,” they said. “States must pursue concrete measures to end the siege, such as halting the transfer of weapons and ammunition.”
“Piecemeal arrangements and symbolic gestures, like airdrops or flawed aid deals, serve as a smokescreen for inaction,” the statement said. “They cannot replace states’ legal and moral obligations to protect Palestinian civilians and ensure meaningful access at scale. States can and must save lives before there are none left to save.” — QNN
