A FEW days ago while going through some old documents I came across one of many press cards issued by the Israeli Government Press Office (GOP). One in particular caught my eye, issued as it was in 2005 specifically for me to cover what was then dubbed Israel’s “disengagement” from Gaza.

At the time no one expected things to go smoothly and tensions were running high, especially among the Israeli settler community about to be forced out from Gaza.

Nevertheless, knowing the historic significance of the “disengagement” and keen to be seen making such a move in the eyes of the international community, the Israeli authorities had eased up in its reluctance to give foreign journalists access to the Strip.

That of course was back then, but today it’s an altogether different story.

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For going on nine months now, Gaza has been effectively closed off to international media barring a few carefully orchestrated “embedded” visits by a handful of overseas journalists, who by their own admission, are taken by the Israel Defence Force (IDF) to see what they want them to see.

As I know from years of experience, restrictions on reporting are not uncommon in war, but for veteran foreign and war correspondents – including myself – Gaza has become one of the most closed-off conflicts we have ever known.

Even by Israel’s strict rules on “closed military zones” the blanket ban on international reporters is unprecedented.

The implications of this in terms of things going unseen or deliberately hidden from independent media scrutiny are obvious. Gross human rights violations, the covering up of humanitarian needs, war crimes, torture – to name but a few issues – come to mind.

In such a scenario, misinformation, disinformation and propaganda flourish. Short of the utterly courageous commitment of our Palestinian colleagues to keep the world informed, we would know next to nothing of the truce scale of the atrocities and suffering in Gaza.

For such dedication these reporters have paid a terrible price, with more than 100 Palestinian journalists having been killed since October 7 last year, according to the press freedom and rights organisation the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Alongside this we have had to rely also upon the testimony of doctors, medical staff and aid workers for information which only serves to make them targets and detract from the massive demand currently made on their skills and resources.

The term “in extremis” does not begin to describe the conditions under which Palestinian journalists are working, many while trying to keep their own families safe and operating with at very best patchy communications systems.

All of this suits the Israeli occupiers just fine of course.

As I write, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently in the United States doing what countless Israeli leaders before him have done – trying to keep the country’s staunchest ally and supplier of arms on side.

You can bet your bottom dollar, though, that while vociferous talks will be ongoing as to keeping that cosy relationship in place, the Biden administration’s response will remain muted on other issues including allowing access to the international media.

Personally, I’m not holding my breath when it comes to the US taking any notice of the letters signed by major human rights and press freedom organisations urging Joe Biden to press Netanyahu on the rising number of journalists killed in Gaza and the near total ban on international media entering the enclave.

And before anyone thinks Israel’s media onslaught is only in Gaza, it’s worth remembering that for some time even before last October, Netanyahu’s government has moved to crackdown on the press in Israel itself.

Ever since its founding, Israel has had a military censor which is part of the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate. This unit requires all journalists, both international and Israeli working inside Israel or for an Israeli publication to submit any material dealing with “security issues” for approval.

Any breaches in compliance can result in the censor imposing fines, indicting journalists, and suspending or shutting down media outlets as happened with Al Jazeera and efforts to permanently ban the broadcaster. Media outlets too, frequently route their coverage of the war through their Israel-based offices which work under the shadow of IDF censors.

(Image: Getty)

As the global affairs journal New Lines magazine recently highlighted, shortly after the Hamas-led October 7 attacks, “the censor issued a memo with directives to local and international media outlets operating in Israel, prohibiting them from reporting on eight topics, including the hostages, the Security Cabinet and cyberattacks, among others, without the approval from the censor”.

New Lines also detailed how throughout this time “Netanyahu’s government has scaled up threats against Israeli media outlets viewed as critical of its policies”.

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The result is that now in 2024, Israel has dropped even further down media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) press freedom index. While in 2023 before the war in Gaza began Israel fell to 97th out of 180 countries, now in 2024 it sits at the 101st position, putting it firmly in the bottom half of the world and trailing behind countries like Senegal and Qatar.

Quite clearly in terms of press freedom there is a pattern developing here, one that anyone familiar with authoritarian regimes will recognise.

Going back to Gaza itself though, as Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the CPJ argued just a few days ago in a column in the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, what the media needs right now is “broad, independent access to Gaza so it can corroborate and assess for itself what is happening on the ground.”

That there have been disgraceful shortcomings in the output of the UK and other press outlets on the domestic front when it comes to reporting on and analysing the conflict in Gaza is undeniable. That some have unquestioningly swallowed hook, line and sinker the Israeli version of events on numerous occasions is also a given.

(Image: Jehad Alshrafi)

This stands in stark contrast to Palestinian colleagues who have performed above and beyond the call of duty and for that they are to be saluted. That our Palestinian colleagues are weary goes without saying, as is the fact that they so desperately need the fresh eyes of their international counterparts on the ground to help them tell this appalling story.

Israel meanwhile, will do all it can to prevent this from happening for as long as is possible.

For that reason, amidst the many legitimate demands of campaigners and voices of politicians asking for action on ceasefires, peace and humanitarian provision in Gaza, providing access to the international, independent press, I firmly believe should now also be front and centre.

By securing this access, Gaza will not only be prevented from slipping out of the headlines – as threatens to happen – but the full and true extent of what Israel has done there will become apparent and all those responsible – on both sides – be held to account.