More than 55 foreign correspondents have issued a plea for access to Gaza through Israel and Egypt, saying it would help them bolster the efforts of local journalists whose safety is at risk.
Update on 1 March: A second open letter has been published with signatures from leaders at more than 30 international news organisations affirming solidarity with journalists in Gaza. Scroll down for that letter.
The 55 correspondents represent all the main broadcasters with bases in the UK including BBC News, Sky News, ITV News, Channel 4 News, CNN, NBC, CBS and ABC.
Scroll down for the full letter and list of signatories
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They collectively signed an open letter sent on 28 February both to the Israeli and Egyptian embassies in London urging “free and unfettered access to Gaza for all foreign media”.
They added that it is “vital that local journalists’ safety is respected and that their efforts are bolstered by the journalism of members of the international media” and noted that their media organisations have decades of experience in dealing with the risks of conflict reporting.
Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford said that like many other journalists, she and her crew have “spent the bulk of the past nearly five months busting a gut to get into Gaza” but they had never managed to get past the Rafah border crossing from Egypt.
In an article for Sky News she highlighted the fact that around 90 journalists are believed to have been killed since the war began on 7 October – 20 killed per month or one every other day. “Can you take that in? Because I am finding that hard to.”
She said that usually media organisations usually rotate staff in and out of a warzone “to allow for recharging, recovering and allowing fresh eyes and minds on events which are physically and mentally exhausting and debilitating” but local journalists in Gaza have been stuck inside and only a few have been able to leave.
CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward, who has signed the letter, is believed to have been the only journalist who had not been residing in Gaza who has been able to gain access without being embedded with the IDF since 7 October, after travelling with a UAE medical team.
Ward said the trip “provided a window into the war zone, but only a small one”.
Crawford wrote that embedding with the IDF “offers only limited insight” as the army “chooses the route, area to head to, how long you are in situ and basically what the journalist gets access to and who they talk to or if they can talk to anyone at all”. Journalists on these trips have not been able to talk to any Palestinians.
The journalists’ full Gaza access letter says:
“Almost five months into the war in Gaza, foreign reporters are still being denied access to the territory, outside of the rare and escorted trips with the Israeli military.
“We urge the Governments of Israel and Egypt to allow free and unfettered access to Gaza for all foreign media. We call on the government of Israel to openly state its permission for international journalists to operate in Gaza and for the Egyptian authorities to allow international journalists access to the Rafah Crossing.
“There is intense global interest in the events in Gaza and for now the only reporting has come from journalists who were already based there.
“It’s vital that local journalists’ safety is respected and that their efforts are bolstered by the journalism of members of the international media. The need for comprehensive on the ground reporting of the conflict is imperative.
“The risks of conflict reporting are well understood by our organisations who have decades of experience of reporting in warzones around the world and in previous wars in Gaza.”
Full list of journalist signatories:
- Alex Crawford, Sky News
- Alex Rossi, Sky News
- Alex Thomson, Channel 4
- Alistair Bunkall, Sky News
- Anna Botting, Sky News
- Charlie D’Agata, CBS
- Chris Livesay, CBS
- Christiane Amanpour, CNN
- Clarissa Ward, CNN
- Clive Myrie, BBC
- Cordelia Lynch, Sky News
- Debora Patta, CBS
- Deborah Haynes, Sky News
- Diana Magnay, Sky News
- Dominic Waghorn, Sky News
- Emma Murphy, ITN
- Fergal Keane, BBC
- Fiona Bruce, BBC
- Hala Gorani, NBC
- Holly Williams, CBS
- Ian Lee, CBS
- Ian Pannell, ABC
- Imtiaz Tyab, CBS
- James Longman, ABC
- Jeremy Bowen, BBC
- John Irvine, ITN
- John Ray, ITN
- John Sparks, Sky News
- Julie Etchingham, ITN
- Katya Adler, BBC
- Kirsty Wark, BBC
- Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Channel 4
- Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4
- Lyse Doucet, BBC
- Mark Stone, Sky News
- Martha Kearney, BBC
- Matt Frei, Channel 4
- Mishal Husain, BBC
- Molly Hunter, NBC
- Nawal al-Maghafi, BBC
- Nick Robinson, BBC
- Orla Guerin, BBC
- Paraic O’Brien, Channel 4
- Quentin Sommerville, BBC
- Ramy Inocencio, CBS
- Reeta Chakrabarti, BBC
- Richard Engel, NBC
- Rohit Kachroo, ITN
- Sarah Montague, BBC
- Secunder Kermani, Channel 4
- Stuart Ramsay, Sky News
- Tom Bateman, BBC
- Tom Bradby, ITN
- Yalda Hakim, Sky News
- Yousra Elbagir, Sky News
Open letter from news organisations sharing solidarity
Days after the letter from foreign correspondents was sent to the embassies, an open letter co-ordinated by the Committee to Protect Journalists was published with signatures from leaders at more than 30 news organisations.
They said they stand united with journalists reporting from Gaza and called for anyone targeting them to be held accountable.
The full letter said:
“We, the undersigned, stand united with Palestinian journalists in their call for safety, protection, and the freedom to report.
“For nearly five months, journalists and media workers in Gaza – overwhelmingly, the sole source of on-the-ground reporting from within the Palestinian territory – have been working in unprecedented conditions: at least 89 have been killed in the war, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, more journalists than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year.
“These journalists – on whom the international news media and the international community rely for information about the situation inside Gaza – continue to report despite grave personal risk. They continue despite the loss of family, friends, and colleagues, the destruction of homes and offices, constant displacement, communications blackouts, and shortages of food and fuel.
“Journalists are civilians and Israeli authorities must protect journalists as noncombatants according to international law. Those responsible for any violations of that longstanding protection should be held accountable. Attacks on journalists are also attacks on truth. We commit to championing the safety of journalists in Gaza, which is fundamental for the protection of press freedom everywhere.”
Full list of news leader signatories:
- Kim Godwin, President, ABC NEWS
- Phil Chetwynd, Global News Director, Agence France-Presse
- Hossam Kanafani, Editor in Chief, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed
- Shiro Nakamura, President, The Asahi Shimbun, Japan
- Julie Pace, Executive Editor, Associated Press
- Simon Spanswick, Chief Executive, Association for International Broadcasters
- Deborah Turness, CEO, BBC News
- Mark Thompson, Chairman and CEO, CNN Worldwide
- Daoud Kuttab, Director General, Community Media Network, Jordan
- Branko Brkic, Editor in Chief, Daily Maverick, South Africa
- Alia Ibrahim, Co-founder / CEO, Daraj, Lebanon
- Roula Khalaf, Editor, Financial Times
- Katharine Viner, Editor in Chief, The Guardian
- Aluf Benn, Editor in Chief, Haaretz
- Geordie Grieg, Editor in Chief, The Independent
- Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, Chairperson, Inquirer Group of Companies, The Philippines
- Deirdre Veldon, Managing Director, former Deputy Editor, The Irish Times, Ireland
- Rachel Corp, Chief Executive, ITN UK
- Andrew Dagnell, Editor, ITV News UK
- Terry Tang, Interim Executive Editor, Los Angeles Times
- Rameeza Nizami, Managing Director, Nawaiwaqt Group, Pakistan
- Pamella Sittoni, Group Managing Editor, Nation Media Group, Kenya
- Rebecca Blumenstein, President, Editorial, NBC News
- David Remnick, Editor, The New Yorker
- AG Sulzberger, Publisher, The New York Times
- Martha Ramos, President, World Editors Forum / Chief Editorial Officer, Organización
Editorial Mexicana, Mexico - Hans Väre, Editor in Chief, Postimees Grupp, Estonia
- Alan Rusbridger, Editor, Prospect magazine, UK
- Ritu Kapur, CEO, The Quint, India
- Maria Ressa, CEO and Co-Founder, Rappler Inc.
- Alessandra Galloni, Editor in Chief, Reuters
- Nwabisa Makunga, Editor in Chief, The Sowetan, South Africa
- Dirk Kurbjuweit, Editor in Chief, Der Spiegel
- Wolfgang Krach, Editor in Chief, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany
- Sally Buzbee, Executive Editor, The Washington Post
- Vincent Peyrègne, CEO, World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA)
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