New Delhi: Four western news organisations – the Associated Press, AFP, BBC News and Reuters – have issued a joint statement about their journalists in Gaza where Israel continues to block food and aid.

Some of these organisations, it must be noted, have been on the receiving end of criticism over their coverage of Israel's strikes on Palestine. The BBC, particularly, has been accused of ignoring Palestinians' suffering and favouring Israel's side, often putting it on par with Palestine's.

The AP, AFP and Reuters have reported on Gaza through freelancers ever since the Benjamin Netanyahu administration in Israel closed Gaza off to foreign journalists.

Now, however, over two months since Israel took over the distribution of aid in Gaza, leading to the creation of a situation of mass starvation, the news organisations have come forward with a plea of desperation, addressed directly to Israel.

At least 113 people in the Gaza Strip have died of starvation, the territory's health ministry has said.

The short joint statement by the four news organisations says:

We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families. For many months, these independent journalists have been the world’s eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza. They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering.

Journalists endure many deprivations and hardships in warzones. We are deeply alarmed that the threat of starvation is now one of them.

We once again urge the Israeli authorities to allow journalists in and out of Gaza. It is essential that adequate food supplies reach the people there.

A day ago, more than 100 aid agencies, including Save the Children and Médecins Sans Frontières, released a joint statement urging for aid to be allowed into the territory under siege.

The Al Jazeera Media Network, whose journalists have played a leading role in continuously reporting on atrocities in Gaza, has also urgently called upon the journalistic community, press freedom organisations, and legal bodies to take action to halt the forced starvation and crimes against journalists and media professionals in Gaza.

On July 19, Al Jazeera journalists began posting messages on social media to shed further light on how difficult their jobs were made by the gut-wrenching conditions in which they were living. The Al Jazeera report highlights one post by Anas al-Shariff, Al Jazeera Arabic channel correspondent in Gaza, in which he said, “I haven’t stopped covering for a moment in 21 months, and today, I say it outright … And with indescribable pain. I am drowning in hunger, trembling in exhaustion, and resisting the fainting that follows me every moment … Gaza is dying. And we die with it.”

The Society of Journalists at AFP have also spoken out as a group about their colleagues in Gaza, noting that “without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die.” AFP’s management also echoed these concerns on the “appalling” situation in the region and said that it was working to evacuate its freelancers and their families.

“For months, we have watched helplessly as their living conditions deteriorated dramatically,” AFP said in a statement. “Their situation is now untenable, despite their exemplary courage, professional commitment, and resilience.”

The Associated Press' report on this statement notes how an AFP photographer, identified as Bashar, sent a message on social media over the weekend that “I no longer have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin and I can’t work anymore.”

Another AFP employee, Ahlam, is quoted as having said that every time she leaves her shelter to cover an event or do an interview, she doesn't "know if [she'll] come back alive.” Despite this threat to her life, she identifies her biggest problems as the lack of food and water.

Israel’s sustained attacks on Gaza has killed 232 journalists – the deadliest conflict for media workers ever recorded, according to a report by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs’ Costs of War project.

More journalists have been killed in Gaza than in both world wars, the Vietnam War, the wars in Yugoslavia and the United States war in Afghanistan combined, the report found.

The 2024 Round-up by Reporters Without Borders found that in Gaza, at least 35 journalists were killed in direct connection with their work.

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