'A journey of death': How journalists have spent year covering Israel-Hamas war

 

A Palestinian journalist uses his mobile phone to broadcast live in Rafah on the southern Gaza Strip, Dec. 27, 2023, amid battles between Israel and Hamas. [AFP]

One year has passed since Hamas launched a violent attack on southern Israel, triggering a deadly conflict and an unprecedented number of journalist deaths. Twelve months on, journalists are continuing to navigate how to cover the conflict.

When Tareq Hajjaj, a Gaza correspondent for the news website Mondoweiss, ventured into the field to report, he said he sometimes saw Israeli warplanes and drones circling above and worried that he would be killed.

"Every time I was going to do a story to report something, I was feeling that death is so close, like in any second I can be killed," Hajjaj told VOA from Cairo.

The journalist was permitted to leave Gaza for Egypt in April, but he still reports on the war from afar.

Founded as a progressive news site, Mondoweiss has faced criticism for what some say are anti-Israel views and an activist approach.

"That was really dangerous to go in the field to report. It was a journey of death every day," he added.

Figures from the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, reflect that danger.

As of October 4, at least 128 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war began on October 7 last year,making the war the deadliest conflict on record for journalists.

Journalists in Gaza have borne the brunt of the violence. Of the journalists killed, 123 of them — or about 96% — were Palestinian, according to CPJ.

"They bear the full weight of responsibility of reporting on the impact of the war on Gaza," CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg told VOA in New York.

The high rate of killed journalists has raised concerns that the Israeli military is deliberately targeting the media, according to Ginsberg.

"That is particularly worrying because journalists are civilians and must never be targeted in war, and that would constitute a war crime," she said.

Two Israeli journalists and three Lebanese journalists have also been killed since the war began, according to CPJ.

The two Israeli journalists were among about 1,200 people killed by Hamas militants in the initial October 7 attack. Hamas also captured about 250 hostages.

Israel's counteroffensive in Gaza, meanwhile, has killed more than 41,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. More than 95,000 others have been injured in Israel's bombardments, which have all but reduced the small enclave of Gaza to rubble.

In response to a request for comment, Israel's Foreign Ministry referred VOA to the Israel Defense Forces, or IDF. The IDF did not reply to VOA's email requesting comment.

Threats to journalist safety — particularly in Gaza — are among the most pressing issues facing reporters as they cover the war, according to media experts. While those in Gaza have found themselves preoccupied with survival, journalists are also tasked with the additional duty of covering and explaining what is happening to local and international audiences.

In the past, Hamas has harassed and arrested journalists in Gaza over their reporting, but CPJ has not received any reports of the U.S.-designated terrorist group targeting journalists since the war began.

Last year, the Israeli military said it could not guarantee the safety of journalists in Gaza. The military has also said it does not target journalists. But press freedom groups and other analysts aren't convinced.

"It used to be that if you wore an insignia saying you were with the press or you're with television that that would protect you. I think we understand now that wearing that kind of insignia makes you a target," John Daniszewski, standards editor at The Associated Press, told VOA from New York.

Daniszewski added that the war is the most polarizing issue he has covered in his career.

"One side or the other is very concerned that their victimhood is not being centered," he said.

Another issue that makes covering the war more difficult is lack of access, since Israel tightly restricts media access to Gaza. The only way for journalists to enter Gaza is by embedding with the IDF, but those infrequent trips are highly controlled, with journalists seeing only what the Israeli military permits them to see.

Palestinians visit the site where Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed, in the West Bank city of Jenin, May 18, 2022. [AP Photo]

In early September, the Foreign Press Association, or FPA, in Israel reiterated its calls for the Israeli government to allow increased independent access for journalists in Gaza.

"This is a highly excessive measure that is unprecedented in scale and scope and duration and runs counter to the tenets of democracy and freedom of the press," former FPA chairperson Dan Perry told VOA about the tight restrictions. Now a Tel Aviv-based columnist, Perry previously worked as the Jerusalem bureau chief for The Associated Press.

Restricted media access to Gaza risks hampering international audiences' understanding of what's happening in the territory, according to Ginsberg, and increases the space for misinformation and disinformation to flourish.

"It means that we are not able to necessarily get a full picture of what's happening in Gaza," she said.

A throughline over the past year has also been the Israeli government's targeting of the Qatari news outlet Al Jazeera.

In May, the Israeli government shut down the outlet over alleged national security concerns in a move that press freedom groups condemned. Al Jazeera reporters still cannot report from inside Israel.

Then in late September, the Israeli military raided Al Jazeera's bureau in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank and forced the bureau to cease operations for at least 45 days. The closure order accuses Al Jazeera of incitement and supporting "terrorism."

"The raid on the office and seizure of our equipment is not only an attack on Al Jazeera, but an affront to press freedom and the very principles of journalism," Al Jazeera said in a statement.

During the raid, Israeli soldiers tore down a poster of U.S.-Palestinian Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot in the head and killed in 2022 while covering an Israeli army operation in the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli military has said the journalist was likely, but unintentionally, shot by an Israeli soldier. No one has been held accountable for her killing.

"The shutdown of Al Jazeera is part and parcel of a much broader attempt by Israel to censor the media," Ginsberg said.

Back in Gaza, one of the biggest challenges that journalists face is the abundance of stories there are to tell, according to Hajjaj. "There always are more stories that need to be done," he said.

Although about half a year has passed since Hajjaj managed to leave Gaza for Egypt, he says his home never feels that far away.

"Even if my body left Gaza, all my senses are still there," he said.