News organizations Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Reuters and the BBC on Thursday issued a rare joint statement calling on Israel to allow journalists to move in and out of Gaza, and to provide more food for civilians in the besieged Strip.
The outlets expressed concern that their colleagues in Gaza are facing starvation amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis, as Israel continues to wage war in the coastal enclave.
“We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families,” they said.
“It is essential that adequate food supplies reach the people there,” the organizations wrote, as international organizations point to the growing risk of famine in Gaza.
AFP’s union released a similar statement Monday, saying that its journalists in Gaza had no access to food. On Wednesday, more than 100 international humanitarian organizations published a letter urging Israel to grant the United Nations access to make aid deliveries to Gaza.
Israel has pushed back against claims from Brussels that it isn’t living up to the terms of an aid distribution deal signed with the EU, blaming the U.N. for shortages. “We opened more crossings to the north and to the south. We opened more routes of aid through the Jordanians, through the Egyptians,” Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook.
While top EU officials have lambasted Israel over its food distribution policy and recent deadly incidents around humanitarian aid stations, the Israeli military claims that Hamas militants are hoarding food in underground tunnels.
Israel launched its invasion of Gaza in October 2023, after an attack by Hamas militants on Israeli territory left more than 1,000 people dead. The Israeli retaliation has killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza.
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