Despite the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Israel continues to prevent international journalists from entering the Strip, fearing that the truth will be revealed and the world will witness the scale of the atrocities and crimes committed during two years of genocidal warfare.Since the start of the war on Gaza, the occupying authorities have imposed a complete ban on the entry of foreign journalists, depriving the international community of direct access to the truth about the heinous crimes and the catastrophic humanitarian conditions experienced by citizens in the sector.On October 25, the Israeli High Court granted Israel an additional 30 days to respond to a petition filed by the Foreign Press Association in 2024, demanding that international journalists be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip and challenging the ban imposed since the start of the war. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on the international community to pressure Israel to immediately lift all restrictions preventing journalists from entering Gaza.For two years, the occupying government sought to postpone consideration of journalists entering the sector 7 times, with the aim of preventing them from performing their journalistic duty and preventing the transmission of the horrors of genocide and its catastrophic repercussions to the world.But the occupation army organized limited and tightly controlled press tours inside Gaza, specifying which photos and videos could be published and preventing interviews with Palestinians, which “reinforces Israeli propaganda and disseminates field footage entirely subject to its official narrative and devoid of free and independent coverage.”In an attempt to obscure the truth and prevent its transmission to the world, the occupation deliberately killed 256 Palestinian journalists since the start of the war of extermination on the Gaza Strip.
Concealing the truthIsmail Al-Thawabta, Director General of the Government Media Office in Gaza, says that the occupation’s continued prevention of international journalists from entering the Gaza Strip is a deliberate and systematic behavior aimed at concealing the truth and preventing the world from witnessing and documenting the effects of the crimes and violations committed against the civilian population during the war.In an exclusive interview with Safa News Agency, Thawabta explains that the occupation realizes that the presence of a free press will reveal the extent of the destruction, the patterns of targeting, and the facts of the genocide, and will refute the narrative that it is trying to promote globally.He believes that preventing access to independent media represents a clear violation of the freedom of journalistic work guaranteed by international conventions, most notably Article (19) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.Al-Thawabta emphasizes that the occupation is acting outside the framework of international law, and according to the logic of force and hegemony.He adds that the occupation fears the entry of foreign journalists into Gaza, because reality is stronger than its propaganda, and the presence of a free and professional press will lead to the dismantling of its narrative before the international community, and will document with sound and image the war crimes, indiscriminate bombing, and targeting of civilian families, hospitals, shelters, and displacement camps.
Media disinformationWhat the occupying authorities fear, according to the constants, is the undeniable human scene: completely destroyed neighborhoods, mass graves, starving children, and families being wiped out entirely.He asserts that the occupation fears the truth because it exposes it and establishes a path of international accountability from which it cannot escape.From his point of view, the occupation’s allowing a very limited number of journalists to enter under strict conditions, most notably being accompanied by the army and preventing free movement, is an attempt to produce a tightly controlled and directed media narrative, where the occupation controls what is seen and published, prevents filming of crimes or approaching targeted sites, and allows only what serves its narrative.He says that this pattern of “military-accompanying coverage” is organized and blatant media disinformation, creating carefully selected scenes aimed at portraying the occupation as legal or ethical, while concealing the real violations.The danger, according to the Director General of the Media Office, lies in obscuring the truth and turning some media outlets into tools for whitewashing crimes and reproducing an incorrect narrative to the world, which contributes to distorting international awareness and falsifying historical facts.
Image blurringAs for the writer and political analyst Iyad al-Qara, he believes that the occupation wants to obscure the image of the Gaza Strip and not convey the true and correct Palestinian narrative about what actually happened in the Strip.Al-Qara explained in an interview with Safa News Agency that all that happened was that the occupation allowed some foreign journalists to enter Gaza, who support its narrative in areas it controls, without allowing any media coverage for journalists and conveying the truth.He adds that this is part of falsifying the truth, covering up the occupation’s crimes in the sector, and marketing them to the international community, despite its false narrative.He points out that the occupation deliberately killed Palestinian journalists who tried to convey part of the truth about what is happening in the Gaza Strip to the world.What Israel fears most is the dissemination of the truth and the confirmation of the clear narrative surrounding the genocide in Gaza, the killing of children and women, and the destruction of Palestinian cities without any justification or pretext. This will be used as evidence before the International Criminal Court and the international media. (According to the report)It shows that “Israel” is very disturbed by the images that have been transmitted from the Gaza Strip, and regarding the torture of prisoners in the “Sde Teiman” detention center, because transmitting these images to the international community will bring about a major change in the international position, especially since it has failed to present its narrative in the face of the crimes it committed in the Strip.Al-Qara believes that the occupation will not allow foreign journalists to enter Gaza, because that would reveal the extent of the crime committed by the occupation government, which would be a nightmare for it.”Therefore, it is trying to delay all these procedures as much as it can, but given the current reality, and the widespread destruction and clearing operations, it will be difficult to turn a blind eye to its crimes in the sector.”
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