Beginning of the Great Trouble of the Zionist Regime with the Imminent Entry of Journalists Into Gaza

TEHRAN (Defapress) - International journalists based in the occupied territories have called for the immediate entry of media personnel into the Gaza Strip after the ceasefire in Gaza began. The important trade body has joined a wide group of media organizations worldwide that are calling for press freedom in the devastated region.

In its statement, the Foreign Press Association (FPA) called on Israel to “immediately open the borders and allow free and independent access to the Gaza Strip for international media.”

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has prevented international journalists from entering Gaza to report on the war, allowing only a small number to enter Gaza under heavy military surveillance and on tours guided by the Israel Defense Forces.

For the past two years, international media outlets have relied on Palestinian journalists in Gaza to reach out to Palestinian civilians, aid workers, and medical personnel. Palestinian journalists are among the most at risk in the world; according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 197 journalists have been killed in Israeli attacks in the past two years.

Maryam Dagga, a reporter for the Associated Press and the Arab Independent, was among those killed recently in an Israeli airstrike on the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, along with Reuters reporter Hussam al-Masri. Israel has carried out 25 targeted attacks on journalists in the past two years.

Israel has consistently denied deliberately targeting journalists, but its military has claimed responsibility for the killings of several journalists, including Anas al-Sharif, an Al Jazeera correspondent, whom the Israeli military falsely described as the commander of a terrorist group.

The UN special rapporteur said on Friday that an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon on October 13, 2023, killed Reuters journalist Essam Abdullah and wounded 6 others, including 2 AFP reporters. 

In July 2025, major news agencies, including Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press, the BBC, and Reuters, issued a joint statement stressing the importance of international media access to reporting on the situation in Gaza. Also in July of last year, the Committee to Protect Journalists and more than 70 media and civil society organizations called on Israel to allow international journalists independent access to Gaza.

In February 2024, more than 30 news organizations, including The Guardian, signed a letter calling for the protection of journalists in Gaza.

This week, the Arab and Middle East Journalists Association issued a statement calling for the release of American journalist Emily Wilder, who was traveling in the “Superego” media convoy to Gaza.

The intense pressure from the world’s media on Israel after the ceasefire signals the beginning of a new era of soft power struggle with a regime whose troubles are only just beginning after the genocide of 67,000 Palestinians.