International media is failing Palestinian journalists in Gaza

A Palestinian boy makes his way across rubble near a displacement camp in the Gaza Strip, July 2026

Taghreed El-Khodary writes in Haaretz on 10 August 2026:

“Journalists in Gaza mean nothing to everyone. We are only useful as long as there is a story to tell. Why do media outlets rush to request interviews whenever one of our colleagues is killed? We barely hear a word of condemnation from them while these journalists are alive and risking everything to do their jobs.”

These heartbreaking words were published on Facebook recently by Gaza-based reporter Tareq Abu Azzoum. Like him, I find myself asking: why isn’t this call being made daily? In every piece of media coverage on Gaza, the public should be reminded that Israel has barred independent international media from entering the region for almost three years now. Media outlets have a responsibility to analyze why Israel is keeping them out.

In a recent panel on the subject, two journalists said they fear that coverage of Gaza is becoming “boring” for their audience. My response to this concern is simple: we need to stop covering Gaza solely as a humanitarian story. It’s a much larger geopolitical, legal, environmental and technological story, alongside a humanitarian one. It’s the story of a man-made disaster, and also of a place that has become the deadliest in modern history for journalists.

The most important media outlets in the world have all called on Israel to allow journalists into Gaza as early as the summer of 2024. Israel refused to do so. So far, the international media is not applying real pressure on Israel to change course. It’s not boring to take a stand against a country on trial for genocide and war crimes at The Hague; it’s the minimum that should be expected of journalists being denied the opportunity to cover a story on the ground.

The call for Israel to let international journalists into Gaza should be on the homepage of every news app, on the front page of every newspaper, and mentioned in every news segment on television. Our colleagues in Gaza are exhausted. Not only are they reporting while fearing death at any moment, but they are also trying to survive displacement with their families. Israel’s objective in Gaza has been to destroy the social fabric of the place; journalists are part of that fabric. That’s another not-boring story that deserves to be covered every day.

Another thing media outlets can do to change the current reality is to treat Israeli officials the same way Russian officials get treated. They should not be provided a platform to spread lies and disinformation. The systematic killing of journalists should never be normalized, and those making excuses for it should not be treated as normal guests.

The Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (NIOD) in Amsterdam recently invited Omer Bartov, a distinguished Israeli historian and one of the world’s leading Holocaust scholars, to speak about what went wrong with Israel. He is not boring at all.

After his talk I approached him and asked why, in his opinion, Israel was not allowing international journalists into Gaza. His answer to me was clear: “To erase evidence of war crimes.”

Palestinian journalists on the ground have already collected substantial evidence, but what Israel truly fears is that international journalists will do the same, and share it with the world. Evidence, documentation and testimonies are precisely what Israel seeks to erase through threats, censorship and the killing of journalists. By keeping journalists out, Israel is buying time.

I also asked Bartov why his article from last summer, “I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It,” didn’t change the realities on the ground. His response was that the way to achieve real change is through “military, economic and academic boycott.” His suggestion is worth discussing, analyzing and arguing over – for the people of Gaza, and specifically the journalists doing impossible work there under incredibly dangerous conditions.

Taghreed El-Khodary is a media and political commentator, and has previously written for The New York Times and other media outlets from Gaza.

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