The Morning: Journalism in Gaza
The New York Times <nytdirect@nytimes.com>
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2025-08-26 13:06
Good morning. Here’s the latest:
More news is below. But first, a look at journalists in Gaza.
Bearing witness
The video footage from Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza is horrifying. You can see rescue workers in orange vests tending to Palestinians injured in an Israeli attack. You can also see a journalist with a boom mic. Another wears a camera around his neck and holds a smartphone in his hand, documenting the scene. And then, for a moment, you can’t see anything at all. The screen goes black as you hear the loud blast of a second strike. Five journalists were among the 20 people killed in the successive strikes on the hospital yesterday morning. In a rare statement of regret, Israel’s prime minister called it a “tragic mishap.” Nearly 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza, more than in any other conflict or any single place since the Committee to Protect Journalists began keeping track in the 1990s. All but a handful were Palestinians who had to balance their own families’ displacement and hunger with the mission of bearing witness amid grave danger. Israel barred international correspondents from Gaza when the war began, except for occasional military embeds. So we’re all relying on locals to tell us what happens there. Today’s newsletter looks at Monday’s strike on the hospital and the particular challenges of reporting from Gaza now. ‘Tragic mishap’
Israeli officials have not given a reason for the attack. Hospitals are off limits under international law, but Israel points out that Hamas operates from hospitals and other protected sites. Human rights groups say Israel targets journalists and acts without regard to their presence in the line of fire. Israel denies those claims. Two weeks ago, Israel assassinated Anas al-Sharif, an Al Jazeera correspondent who it said was also a member of Hamas’s armed wing. Five other journalists were killed in that strike, which targeted a press tent in northern Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was unusually contrite about yesterday’s attack. He promised to investigate. “Israel values the work of journalists, medical staff and all civilians,” he said. “Our war is with Hamas terrorists.” The slain journalists worked for The Associated Press, Reuters, Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye. (You can read more about them here.) Chilling effect
There are more than 1,000 journalists working inside Gaza, the International Federation of Journalists estimates. Like nearly all of Gaza’s two million residents, most have slept in tents or the courtyards of hospitals or in their cars. Some have had dozens of relatives killed. Some have isolated themselves from their children because they fear being targeted as journalists. Movement within Gaza is challenging. Israel does not allow people to cross between north and south. Journalists — like all civilians — struggle to keep up with neighborhood evacuation orders, strike warnings and the routes of aid convoys that frequently erupt in riots. Editors weigh the relative risks of every assignment, often employing security experts to help make the call. When messages go unanswered for hours — or days — everyone worries. The recent spate of killings has had a chilling effect. “It’s reached the point where I’m scared to report,” one photographer told The Times. Another, who was wounded along with his daughter during a July strike on a nearby home, said: “There’s a lot of fear, and there’s no protection.” No accessIsraeli officials have argued that all Gazan reporters are inherently biased. But in contrast to the Israel-Hamas wars that I covered in 2012 and 2014, international correspondents are not allowed to enter Gaza except under military escort. That makes it extremely difficult to report independently. Without Gazan journalists, “there’s no other source of information from Gaza other than Hamas itself,” said Dan Perry, a longtime A.P. bureau chief in the region. In restricting access, Israel joins a list of mostly authoritarian countries taking extreme measures to control the narrative around conflicts. Russia passed laws that can make reporting on its Ukraine war an act of treason. The Syrian regime blocked most journalists from entering the country during its civil war, forcing us and other international outlets to rely on social media accounts from inside. Myanmar and South Sudan have also historically prohibited foreign correspondents. Last week, 28 countries — including Britain, France and Germany — called on Israel to allow “immediate independent” access to Gaza, saying journalists “play an essential role in putting the spotlight on the devastating reality of war.” Their letter followed a petition signed by more than 1,300 journalists that said the press blackout would set a precedent: “that governments and military actors, through censorship, obstruction and force, can shut down access to truth in times of war.”
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