Israel develops two campaigns in Gaza: one for military control of the strip and another for the control of the international story about what happens there.
The theory indicates that international law protects social media journalists and commentators who document famine, mass murders and other war crimes that Israel is committing in Gaza.
But these safeguards are wet paper on the field of the strip, which is, by far, the most dangerous place in the world to act as a reporter. More than 180 Palestinian journalists have died in the 22 months of operation, according to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPP).
Although it is illegal to attack journalists, the CPP has collected that 26 reporters have died in the almost two years of contest, victims of selective murders. The most recent is that of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al Sharif, 28, attacked Sunday in his improvised writing outside a hospital along with five other colleagues.
Press freedom defense organizations and journalists say that these deaths are part of an intimidation campaign to prevent reporting that is vital. Israel justifies it with slander and the false statement that the objectives were secretly members of Hamas.
The work of Gaza journalists is critical. International reporters are not allowed to work there independently, and only a few have been able to enter under Israeli military escort, without permission to move freely or talk to the Palestinians.
“I have no doubt that preventing international access, killing journalists, attacking media facilities and punishing headers like Haaretz It is part of an Israeli deliberate strategy to hide what happens in Gaza, ”said CPP director Jodie Ginsberg.
The head of the Committee referred to a recent episode in which a BBC team reported from a Jordanian military plane that launched humanitarian aid on Gaza, but could not film the destruction on land.
Sharif, who was one of the most recognized journalists who still exercised in Gaza, caused great impact on social networks in July when he collapsed while covering the famine. The pedestrians encouraged him not to faint because he gave voice to Gaza.
An Israeli spokesman recovered a 2024 accusations for a short time according to which the journalist was a militant, adding that the famine caused by Israel was a “false Hamas campaign.” The CPP warned that these allegations represented a threat of death.
“These last accusations without a base are an attempt to invent permission to kill Sharif,” said the regional director of the CPP, Sara Qudah. “It is not the first time that the Israeli army puts the target on Sharif, but now the danger of death is serious,” he insisted.
The murdered journalist had already anticipated that he would die in retaliation for his information. “If these words arrive, know that Israel has managed to kill me and silence my voice,” he wrote in a message on social networks.
Israel has published a dosier of documents that claims to have recovered from Gaza, according to which Sharif had links with Hamas. The archive ends in 2021, two years after the start of the war, and does not even address its usual appearances in live camera.
It is very difficult to imagine that one of the most prominent journalists in one of the most guarded places could at the same time be in command of a Hamas unit during a total war.
The documents published by Israel after killing last year to another jazeera journalist, Ismail al Ghoul, claimed that he had a military position since the age of 10.
Although he presented contradictory and little convincing evidence, the existence of these archives reflected Israel's concern for the pressure of his western allies and the need to appear, at least, that international law was fulfilled.
Despite international pressure, Israel has not given any explanation for the death of the four Sharif classmates, protected civilians who were killed in their workplace. Ginsberg said that this was a warning that risks, already unimaginable, had further aggravated.
“What surprises me is that they have not even tried to justify the other murders,” he said. “They admit having killed those journalists, knowing that they were journalists,” he said, to add: “I think this consciously seeks to cause an intimidating effect to demonstrate that Israel can do what you want and nobody will take any measure.”
“If we have reached the point that Israel can attack a whole news team so blatantly, what does that mean for the safety of the other journalists who work there? Who will be the following?” He interrogated.
The French historian Jean-Pierre Filiu, who was granted an exceptional plan to enter Gaza for academic research purposes during the conflict, said after a month of investigation that he was convinced that Israel tries to silence reporterism in Gaza.
“Now I understand why Israel denies the International Press access to such desolate scenario,” he told Haaretz After the trip. “I have been in several war areas in the past, from Ukraine to Afghanistan, through Syria, Iraq and Somalia, and never, but I have never lived something like this,” he compared.
