Journalists renew calls for Israel to open Gaza to foreign media

International journalists have called on Israel to grant foreign media access to Gaza following the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

In a statement released on Friday, the Foreign Press Association (FPA) urged Israel to "immediately open the borders and allow international media free and independent access to the Gaza Strip" now that hostilities have ceased.

The FPA said the Israeli Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on 23 October over Israel’s long-standing ban on international press entry, "after more than a year in which the state has been allowed to delay its response".

Since 7 October 2023, Israel has prevented foreign journalists from entering Gaza, permitting only tightly controlled visits under military control.

This has forced international media outlets to rely almost entirely on Palestinian journalists and civilians inside Gaza, who have risked and lost their lives documenting the destruction.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at least 197 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since the start of the war, making it the deadliest conflict for media professionals in recent history.

Among those most recently killed were Mariam Dagga, who reported for Associated Press and Independent Arabia, and Reuters journalist Hussam al-Masri, who were both struck while operating a live video feed at Gaza's Nasser Hospital on 25 August.

The CPJ also documented 25 targeted killings of journalists in Gaza. Israel admitted to killing several, including Al Jazeera's Anas al-Sharif, who it falsely accused of leading a "terrorist cell".

UN: Israeli strike on journalists a war crime

A UN Special Rapporteur said on Friday that an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon that killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and injured six others in October 2023 constituted a "premeditated, targeted and double-tapped attack".

Morris Tidball-Binz, the UN expert on extrajudicial killings, said the attack "violated international humanitarian law" and reflected a broader pattern of impunity for violence against journalists.

The FPA joins a growing number of media and civil society organisations demanding that Israel lift its media blockade.

In July 2025, major outlets including AFP, AP, BBC and Reuters released a joint statement calling for open access, warning that "truth itself is a casualty when international media are barred from war zones".

This week, the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA) renewed its call for press freedom, demanding Israel release detained American journalist Emily Wilder, who was arrested while participating in a media solidarity flotilla attempting to reach Gaza.