New Delhi: Doha-based Al Jazeera Media Network Wednesday urged stakeholders to take decisive action to put a stop to “forced starvation and crimes against journalists and media professionals in Gaza”.
“For over 21 months, the Israeli bombardment and the systematic starvation of the nearly two million people of Gaza have pushed an entire population to the brink of survival. The journalists on the ground, who have courageously reported on this ongoing genocide, have risked their lives and the safety of their families to shed light on these atrocities. However, they now find themselves fighting for their own survival,” said its statement.
The statement highlighted the risks journalists have been facing in the Palestinian enclave. Commenting on the situation journalists are facing in Gaza, director general of the network, Dr Mostefa Squag, said that stakeholders owed it to reporters on the ground to “amplify their voices and put an end to the unbearable suffering they are enduring due to forced starvation and targeted killings by Israeli occupation forces”.
On Tuesday, the French news agency, Agence France-Presse, appealed to Israel to facilitate the immediate evacuation of its freelance journalists and their families from the Gaza Strip.
The AFP statement said: “Since AFP was founded in August 1944, we have lost journalists in conflicts, we have had wounded and prisoners in our ranks, but none of us has the memory of having seen a collaborator die of hunger.”
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli military have not responded to these statements.
‘Starving, unable to work’
Drawing attention to its freelance contributors, the AFP stated, “We see their situation getting worse. They are young and their strength is leaving them. Most no longer have the physical capacity to travel the enclave to do their job. Their heartbreaking calls for help are now daily. For the past few days, we have understood from their brief messages that their lives hang by a thread and that their courage, dedicated for long months to informing the entire world, will not help them survive. We risk learning of their death at any moment and this is unbearable to us.”
This statement was issued by the ‘Society of Journalists’, the association of AFP journalists, highlighting the dire situation of its 10 freelancers who are among the last journalists in the region due to the ban imposed on international journalists by Israel. They are starving, exhausted, and too weak to work due to severe food and water shortages, according to the agency statement.
“We refuse to let them die,” the statement added.
After months of efforts, in January-February last year, AFP evacuated eight staffers and their families from the war-torn Gaza Strip. Though a strict blockade in Gaza has made it hard to leave the territory, AFP is working on creating a safe route for the Palestinian freelancers still reporting from the Strip.
In June this year, the UN criticised Israel for “war crimes” as the country was using food as a weapon against the people of Gaza.
A Reuters spokesperson had also shown concerns about the health and safety of its journalists, saying the procurement of food had become difficult. Reporters in Gaza receive additional financial assistance from the agency, the spokesperson had said, adding that Reuters would also offer them assistance for evacuation if they wanted to leave the Strip.
Israel has unleashed a barrage of attacks on Gaza since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack, killing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
Neetu Sharma is a TPSJ alum, interning with ThePrint
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)