FCC statement on journalists facing starvation in Gaza

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong is deeply concerned about journalists working in the Gaza Strip amid reports that they are facing the same risk of starvation as the people they are covering.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began 22 months ago with Hamas’s deadly terrorist attack on Israel, Israel has restricted international journalists from entering Gaza independently, while local journalists and their families have been unable to leave.

Journalists in Gaza have reported on the conflict with great courage and resilience, and at great risk to their lives. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 186 journalists and other media workers have been killed since the war began, including 178 Palestinians, two Israelis and six Lebanese, making it the deadliest period for journalists since the organisation began collecting data in 1992.

International news organisations including the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, BBC News, Reuters and the New York Times say their journalists and their families are now suffering from extreme hunger, jeopardising their ability to report on the war for a global audience and tell the world directly what is happening in Gaza. As humanitarian aid deliveries remain limited following an 80-day Israeli blockade, local journalists report brain fog, dizziness, fainting on air and being too weak to work.

Journalists in Gaza desperately need relief. The FCC joins international news organisations in calling on Israel to allow local journalists to leave Gaza if they wish to do so, allow international journalists to enter, and ensure that journalists in Gaza have adequate access to food so that they can report on the Israel-Hamas war securely and without fear of reprisal for doing their jobs.