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Gaza Journalists Face Death by Starvation, AFP Issues Desperate Warning
July 22, 2025
July 22, 2025 – Palestine –
Agence France-Presse (AFP) has urgently appealed to Israeli authorities to allow for the immediate evacuation of its freelance journalists and their families from Gaza, citing severe food shortages, lack of clean water, and mounting safety risks in the war-ravaged enclave. The agency described the situation facing its local contributors as “appalling” and “untenable,” emphasizing that many are now too weak to carry out their reporting duties.
The appeal follows a statement from AFP’s journalists’ association warning that their Gaza-based colleagues risk dying of starvation, amid a blockade that has persisted since October 2023. Israel continues to bar international media from entering Gaza, leaving Palestinian freelancers as the sole witnesses on the ground. One freelancer, Bashar, noted he is “too weak to continue reporting,” while another, Ahlam, expressed fear for her life each time she goes out to cover the conflict.
AFP highlighted that while eight of its staff and their families were evacuated between January and April 2024, the broader effort is being hindered by Gaza’s stringent blockade. The agency emphasized the critical role local journalists play in informing global audiences, yet stressed that without immediate evacuation, their capacity to report and even survive is at risk.
Reuters has echoed AFP’s concerns, providing financial support and logistical assistance to its Gaza-based contributors, warning that extreme food scarcity is worsening hunger and illness.
Press freedom advocates argue that Israel’s continued refusal to grant entry to international media while Palestinian journalists operate under dire conditions violates principles of independent reporting and may constitute a threat to press freedom. They call for urgent international intervention to protect media workers and allow unfettered coverage of the humanitarian crisis.
AFP’s evacuation call and the warnings from its local journalists underscore a bleak reality: Gaza’s media professionals are at risk of dying not from bombs, but from hunger and deprivation. Their plight represents a critical juncture in the battle to uphold press freedoms and ensure independent documentation of the conflict, before more voices are silenced.
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