A limited number of journalists in Gaza are trying to report on the war with Israel while facing the same problems as the besieged Palestinian population there — wondering where to live, where to get food and water, and how to stay safe.
The aftermath of Tuesday’s explosion that killed hundreds at a Gaza City hospital is the latest example of how that reality hinders the world’s ability to get a full picture of what is happening to the Palestinian population in Gaza.
Outside journalists have been unable to enter Gaza since the Hamas attack in Israel on Oct. 7. The sole entry point for journalists, Israel’s Erez crossing, was attacked in the rampage and remains closed. A handful of news organizations had maintained a regular presence with bureaus there, including The Associated Press (AP), the BBC, Reuters, Agence France-Presse (AFP) and al-Jazeera, with a network of stringers helping others.
Photo: AP
Israel’s order to Palestinians to evacuate the northern part of Gaza led journalists at AP and AFP to abandon bureaus in Gaza City and head south.
“Working in Gaza right now is extremely difficult and that’s in large part because our staff are both covering the story and worrying about their own safety and the safety of their families,” AP executive editor and senior vice president Julie Pace said.
AP staff stocked up on bottled water and other supplies before abandoning their Gaza City bureau, which replaced an office destroyed by Israeli bombs in 2021.
Even with power supplies limited, AP staff members have provided photos, video and other reporting each day since the war’s start, Pace said.
No such luck for a camera left behind on the bureau’s balcony that provided a live stream of the skyline; the generator likely ran out of fuel.
The nine AFP journalists in Gaza feel caught in a squeeze between wanting to work and also take care of their families, AFP global news director Phil Chetwynd said.
Managers are stressing the importance of safety first, he said.
“This is a population that over the years has been used to fairly extreme situations, but I think they would all say that this is on a much, much bigger scale,” Chetwynd said, referring to the previous four wars between Israel and Hamas.
At least 19 journalists have been killed since the start of the war, 15 of them in Gaza, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Wednesday.
Already, more journalists have been killed in Gaza during the past two weeks than in the territory since 2001, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa coordinator Sherif Mansour said.
On CNN, journalist Ibrahim Dahman reported on the journey to find safety that he took with his wife and two sons, ages 7 and 11. One son plaintively asked when they found a room: “They don’t strike hotels, right?”
“I feel intense fear,” Dahman said. “I am worried about myself, my wife and my children.”
AP photojournalist Adel Hana’s family fled to the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, below the evacuation line, to shelter in a cousin’s home near the local hospital, but a series of blasts rocked the building, killing at least seven family members and burying women and children in the rubble, he said.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Hana said. “We went to Deir al-Balah because we thought we would be safe.”
Marwan al-Ghoul, working for CBS News, was similarly heading south with his family in Gaza. When he came upon the aftermath of a bombing in a residential area, he got out to film scenes of bodies buried in rubble and crying children walking through the bombing site.
The need to bear witness, the journalists said, came after a week of intense focus on the attacks in Israel, where news media have been working freely. News organizations are conscious of the need to show that there is suffering on both sides.
Even with fewer news organizations operating in Gaza, there is a rich journalism tradition there, CBS News’ London bureau chief Andrew Roy said.
With advances in technology, many people are able to tote cameras to noteworthy scenes, he said.
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
DEFENSE UPHEAVAL: Trump was also to remove the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the judge advocates general for the army, navy and air force US President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former lieutenant general Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer. The president would also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service,
Four decades after they were forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother on Saturday fell into each other’s arms at the airport in Santiago, Chile. Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad. “The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago. Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the US. Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian
RSS