More than 100 journalists from various global media outlets have signed a petition demanding “immediate and unsupervised foreign press access to the Gaza Strip”.  

Signatories include photographers and war correspondents such as broadcaster Mehdi Hasan, CNN's Christiane Amanpour and Clarissa Ward, war photographer Don McCullin, and Alex Crawford of Sky News. 

The appeal, part of the Freedom To Report initiative, warns that if the warring parties fail to act, media professionals may independently enter Gaza “by any legitimate means, independently, collectively, or in coordination with humanitarian or civil society actors.”

The petition states: “Unrestricted, independent access for foreign journalists is urgently needed, not only to document the unfolding atrocities but to ensure that the truth of this war is not dictated by those who control the weapons and the narrative. Gaza is the most urgent case, but it reflects a larger, dangerous trend of silencing journalists and curbing press freedoms. Defending access in Gaza is defending press freedom everywhere.”

Several international outlets continue to rely on local Palestinian journalists and humanitarian workers to report from inside Gaza. However, nearly 200 journalists – most of them Palestinian – have been killed during the war, according to the initiative, making it the deadliest conflict for media personnel ever recorded.

Last month, the Associated Press, AFP, BBC News, and Reuters issued a joint statement highlighting that their reporters in Gaza are not only working under extreme risk but also struggling to feed their families.

In addition to calling for immediate access, the Freedom To Report petition demands that all parties respect journalists' protected status under international law and calls on governments and press freedom bodies to take action.

Hunger crisis

On July 23, the head of the World Health Organization described the situation in Gaza as “man-made mass starvation,” citing an ongoing Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid.

Last week,  Steve Witkoff, the United States’ special envoy to the Middle East, visited a contentious American-backed aid distribution point in Gaza – one of three sites where hundreds of Palestinians have reportedly been killed in recent weeks while attempting to access food, CNN reported. 

Witkoff said he spent five hours on the ground to assess the worsening humanitarian crisis firsthand and to brief US President Donald Trump upon his return. Earlier this week, Trump acknowledged that Gaza is facing “real starvation,” a statement that stands in contrast to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s repeated denials of a food crisis in the besieged enclave.

59,000 Palestinians dead so far

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since October 7, 2023, killing more than 59,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

In July this year, Haaretz said that medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported a surge in signs of famine, describing it as an “epidemic”. Hundreds of people are reportedly suffering from exhaustion, severe malnutrition and memory loss, all of which are symptoms of prolonged starvation.

Dr Suhaib Al-Hams, director of the field hospital in the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone, warned of an impending "wave of deaths" due to organ failure among displaced individuals.

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