LONDON: More than 50 broadcast journalists from major outlets have signed an open letter sent to the Israeli and Egyptian embassies in which they call for foreign media outlets to be granted unrestricted access to Gaza.
The letter, signed by representatives of British media organizations BBC News, Sky News, ITV News and Channel 4 News, and US broadcasters CNN, NBC, CBS and ABC, expressed frustration about the limited coverage they are able to provide because of the obstacles faced by international news crews.
“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,” they wrote.
“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.”
The letter also calls for improved safety measures to protect local reporters on the ground in the territory.
“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 said.
“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 risks of conflict reporting are well understood by our organizations, who have decades of experience of reporting in war-zones around the world and in previous wars in Gaza.”
The signatories of the letter include noted correspondents including Alex Crawford of Sky News, Jeremy Bowen from the BBC, and Christiane Amanpour from CNN.
It is all but impossible for journalists to enter the Gaza Strip except under the direct supervision of the Israeli military, which has been accused of “offering only limited insight” by controlling the movement of journalists and their access to information.
Instead, news organizations are largely forced to rely on local journalists in Gaza to report the latest events and developments at a time when their lives, and those of their families, are at risk every day.
Crawford, the Sky News special correspondent, said that like many other journalists, she and her crew have “spent the bulk of the past nearly five months trying to get into Gaza” but have yet to pass through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt.
In one report, she said about 90 journalists are believed to have been killed since the war began on Oct. 7, an average of about 20 a month or one every other day.
“Can you take that in? Because I am finding that hard to,” she said.
Clarissa Ward, CNN’s chief international correspondent, who also signed the letter, is believed to be the only journalist not resident in Gaza who has managed to enter the territory since Oct. 7 without being embedded with Israeli troops. She traveled there with a medical team from the UAE.
Ward said the trip “provided a window into the war zone but only a small one.”
