A senior Hamas official has expressed the resistance movement’s appreciation for an initiative launched by hundreds of prominent international journalists, who have called for unrestricted access to Gaza.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Izzat al-Rishq said Hamas “affirms that the occupation’s policy of preventing foreign journalists from entering Gaza represents a clear violation of press freedom and a prevention of conveying the truth to international public opinion.”
“It reveals its (Israel’s) fear of exposing its aggression and terrorism,” the statement read.
The statement comes a day after a petition was launched under the ‘Freedom to Report’ initiative, which advocates for protecting journalists and upholding press independence globally.
The signatories to the petition included journalists from countries across the world, including the US, UK, France, Brazil, Belgium, Norway, Spain, South Africa, Portugal, and Turkey.
The Association of European Journalists, Committee to Protect Journalists, and Reporters Without Borders also signed the petition.
The petition said that the situation in Gaza is “not just a humanitarian blackout, it is an information blackout that undermines the public’s right to know and journalism’s democratic function to hold power accountable.”
Beyond calling for immediate access and protection of media workers, the petition further stated that if Israeli authorities continue to ignore their demands, journalists would seek to enter Gaza without consent.
They would try to gain access “by any legitimate means, independently, collectively, or in coordination with humanitarian or civil society actors.”
It called Israel’s strategy in Gaza as coming from the “very playbook of authoritarianism: Control the narrative, silence independent voices, and sever the link between reality and public understanding.”
These restrictions deprive the world of an impartial account and obstruct the path to accountability, the journalists stated.
Since Israel’s war on Gaza began, more than 230 journalists have been killed, making this the deadliest conflict for the press ever recorded.
With Israel continuing to deny international media access, global coverage of the regime’s genocidal war has relied almost exclusively on Gaza-based Palestinian journalists.
They have worked for nearly 22 months under extreme conditions, facing a shortage of food, water, electricity, internet access, and daily risks to their lives.
Israel has so far resisted calls from human rights groups and media organizations to allow the entry of foreign reporters to the besieged strip.
But the pressure has intensified in recent weeks amid growing international concern over what humanitarian experts have described as a “man-made famine” caused by the complete Israeli blockade on aid.
Eight more Palestinians, including a child, have died due to Israeli-induced starvation over the past 24 hours.
At least 74 Palestinians, including 51 aid seekers, were killed on Tuesday in fresh Israeli attacks across Gaza, as the regime presses ahead with its genocidal war on the besieged strip.
The death toll since the start of Israel’s genocidal war has surpassed 61,000, with over 150,000 injured.