Israel pushes to keep Gaza closed to foreign media

In a submission filed late Sunday to the occupation entity's high court, the authorities claimed that allowing international media to enter Gaza without military escort would pose security risks. This comes as Zionist regime’s forces have violated a ceasefire agreement, which came into effect on October 10, on a daily basis.

The filing comes amid mounting criticism from press freedom groups, which say the media blackout has helped conceal the scale of devastation in Gaza since Israel launched its genocidal war in October 2023.

Since then, Zionist regime’s authorities have barred foreign journalists from independently entering the territory, leaving coverage largely dependent on Palestinian reporters working under relentless bombardment.

Zionist regime’s officials also claimed that opening Gaza to international media at this stage could interfere with efforts to locate the remains of the last captive held in Gaza.

The case stems from a petition filed in 2024 by the Foreign Press Association (FPA), which represents hundreds of international journalists working in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The FPA has demanded immediate and unrestricted access to Gaza, arguing that Zionist regime’s sweeping ban amounts to a grave violation of press freedom.

The high court has granted Zionist regime’s authorities several extensions to submit a plan addressing the issue. At a hearing last month, the court set Jan. 4 as the final deadline for the state’s response.

While foreign journalists remain excluded, Palestinian journalists have continued to report from inside Gaza at enormous personal cost.

Press freedom organisations say Israeli attacks on journalists have proceeded with near-total impunity, with the targeting of the press intensifying throughout the war.

Late last month, a report said Israeli forces had killed at least 706 family members of Palestinian journalists since the start of the war.

According to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate’s Freedoms Committee, Zionist regime’s forces martyred 436 relatives of journalists in 2023, 203 in 2024, and at least 67 in 2025.

The report found that Zionist regime’s strikes have repeatedly hit journalists’ homes, shelters for displaced families, and areas widely known to house media workers and their relatives. In several cases, entire families were wiped out, leaving journalists alive to document the destruction of their own households.

In early December, Gaza's government media office said that 257 Palestinian journalists had been martyred by Zionist regime’s forces since October 2023.

At least 420 people have been martyred in Gaza since the truce was enforced three months ago. Overall, at least 71,388 Palestinians have been martyred and 171,269 injured since the war began, according to Palestinian health authorities.