Israel is running two Gaza campaigns: one for military control of the strip, another for narrative control of how the world understands what happens there.
In theory, Palestinian journalists and social media influencers documenting starvation, mass killing and other Israeli war crimes in Gaza are protected civilians under international law.
However, those paper protections have meant little on the ground in Gaza, by far the most dangerous place in the world to be a reporter, where more than 180 Palestinian journalists have been killed in 22 months of war, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Illustration: Mountain People
Even though it is illegal to target journalists, the CPJ said that over the same period 26 reporters were victims of targeted killings, which it described as murders. The most recent was the 28-year-old al-Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, killed on Sunday in his makeshift newsroom outside a hospital, along with four colleagues.
Press freedom groups and journalists say those killings are part of a campaign of intimidation to shut down vital reporting, which Israel has justified internationally with smears and false claims that the targets were undercover Hamas fighters.
With international reporters barred from independent reporting in Gaza — a handful have been allowed in under Israeli military escort, but they are not allowed to move freely or speak to Palestinians — the work done by journalists in Gaza is critical.
“I have no doubt that the prevention of international access, the killings of journalists, the targeting of media facilities, the punishment of [Israeli] outlets like Haaretz is part of a deliberate strategy on the part of Israel to conceal what is happening inside Gaza,” CPJ chief executive Jodie Ginsberg said.
She pointed to a recent incident when a BBC crew reported from a Jordanian military plane dropping humanitarian aid into Gaza — but was barred by Israel from filming the devastation below.
“We had the example of the international news crews being allowed to film the airdrops, but not the devastation when the doors opened,” she said.
Last month, al-Sharif, one of the most prominent journalists still working in Gaza, went viral on social media when he broke down on air covering starvation. Passersby urged him to keep going, because he gave Gaza a voice.
Soon after, an Israeli military spokesperson revived allegations — first aired last year — that he was a militant, including accusing him of faking mass hunger in a “false Hamas campaign on starvation.”
The CPJ issued a stark warning that those Israeli claims were a death threat.
“These latest unfounded accusations represent an effort to manufacture consent to kill al-Sharif,” CPJ regional director Sara Qudah said at the time. “This is not the first time al-Sharif has been targeted by the Israeli military, but the danger to his life is now acute.”
Al-Sharif had also anticipated his own death and described it as retaliation for his reporting in a statement released on social media.
“If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice,” he wrote.
Israel has published a dossier of documents it says were recovered from Gaza and link al-Sharif to Hamas. They end in 2021, two years before the war began, and do not even attempt to address his regular appearances live on camera.
A role as one of the most prominent journalists in one of the most closely surveilled places on Earth would be strikingly difficult to combine with command of a Hamas unit during an all-out war.
Documents Israel published after killing another al-Jazeera journalist last year claimed Ismail al-Ghoul was given a military rank when he was 10 years old.
While they marshaled contradictory and unconvincing evidence, the existence of those files reflected Israeli concerns about pressure from Western allies, and the need for at least the appearance of compliance with international law.
Despite international pressure, Israel has not offered any explanation for the deaths of al-Sharif’s four colleagues, protected civilians killed in their workplace.
Ginsberg said she feared that was a warning that already unimaginable risks had escalated further.
“What’s astonishing to me is they’ve not even attempted to justify the other killings,” she said. “So they’re admitting to murdering those journalists, knowing they were journalists.”
“I think this is deliberately intended to have a chilling effect to show that Israel can do what it likes, and nobody will take any action.” she said. “If we are now at a stage where Israel can so brazenly target an entire news crew, what does that mean for the safety of any of the other journalists who are operating there? Who is next?”
French historian Jean-Pierre Filiu, given rare permission to enter Gaza for academic research during the conflict, said a month researching there had also convinced him that Israel is trying to silence reporting from Gaza.
“Now I understand why Israel is denying the international press access to such an appalling scene,” he said in an interview with Haaretz after the trip.
“Even though I have been in a number of war zones in the past, from Ukraine to Afghanistan, via Syria, Iraq and Somalia, I have never, but never, experienced anything like this,” he said.
Emma Graham-Harrison is the Guardian’s chief Middle East correspondent, based in Jerusalem.
An elderly mother and her daughter were found dead in Kaohsiung after having not been seen for several days, discovered only when a foul odor began to spread and drew neighbors’ attention. There have been many similar cases, but it is particularly troubling that some of the victims were excluded from the social welfare safety net because they did not meet eligibility criteria. According to media reports, the middle-aged daughter had sought help from the local borough warden. Although the warden did step in, many services were unavailable without out-of-pocket payments due to issues with eligibility, leaving the warden’s hands
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Monday announced that she would dissolve parliament on Friday. Although the snap election on Feb. 8 might appear to be a domestic affair, it would have real implications for Taiwan and regional security. Whether the Takaichi-led coalition can advance a stronger security policy lies in not just gaining enough seats in parliament to pass legislation, but also in a public mandate to push forward reforms to upgrade the Japanese military. As one of Taiwan’s closest neighbors, a boost in Japan’s defense capabilities would serve as a strong deterrent to China in acting unilaterally in the
Taiwan last week finally reached a trade agreement with the US, reducing tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15 percent, without stacking them on existing levies, from the 20 percent rate announced by US President Donald Trump’s administration in August last year. Taiwan also became the first country to secure most-favored-nation treatment for semiconductor and related suppliers under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act. In return, Taiwanese chipmakers, electronics manufacturing service providers and other technology companies would invest US$250 billion in the US, while the government would provide credit guarantees of up to US$250 billion to support Taiwanese firms
Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Randhir Jaiswal told a news conference on Jan. 9, in response to China’s latest round of live-fire exercises in the Taiwan Strait: “India has an abiding interest in peace and stability in the region, in view of our trade, economic, people-to-people and maritime interests. We urge all parties to exercise restraint, avoid unilateral actions and resolve issues peacefully without threat or use of force.” The statement set a firm tone at the beginning of the year for India-Taiwan relations, and reflects New Delhi’s recognition of shared interests and the strategic importance of regional stability. While India
RSS