Queer Dublin Writer Fasts 24 Hours to Honor Gaza Journalists Killed Amid Genocide
July 25, 2025
Kazakhstan Denies Accreditation to 16 RFE/RL Journalists, Deepening Press Freedom Crisis
July 25, 2025
July 25, 2025 – Palestine –
Great Reporter published a harrowing exposé titled “Starving the Storytellers,” revealing that freelance journalists in Gaza—including those working for AFP, Reuters, AP, and BBC—are enduring intentional starvation under Israel’s blockade and ban on foreign press access. These journalists, who are the last eyewitnesses inside Gaza, are collapsing mid-reporting, barely able to carry their gear, and often weak from days of fasting or inadequate nourishment. One BBC freelancer described barely managing one story a day and fainted while filming; others suffer dizziness, fatigue, and delirium as hunger worsens.
Humanitarian agencies and journalist unions, including CPJ and IFJ, warn that this is not an unintended crisis but a strategy of silencing. They argue that starving journalists is part of an information siege designed to mute Gaza’s survivors and eliminate independent documentation of the conflict. CPJ’s Sara Qudah underscored that “their suffering is not collateral damage; it’s part of a deliberate tactic” to starve the press.
The authors describe a devastated landscape: banks shut, food scarce, prices soaring, for instance, a 50g biscuit can cost $9 due to inflation and informal currency exchanges. Journalists with dependents scramble to feed families from limited remittances, often losing over 20 kilograms and resorting to salt water to curb hunger. Roya Media Group reporting confirms that entire reporting teams survive on lentils and sometimes nothing, and have lost significant weight, reflecting a crisis of safety and dignity for press workers.
International bodies, including the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), demand urgent intervention by global governments and the UN to stop Israel’s starvation tactics, grant aid access to Gaza, and restore foreign media presence.
Without swift international action, Gaza risks losing its last storytellers—and with them, the world loses the truth of what is happening. Journalists are a vital link in global awareness, and their starvation threatens both humanitarian reporting and historical accountability.
Reference –
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/25/gaza-journalists-starving
