Al Jazeera calls for global action to protect Gaza’s journalists

Al Jazeera Media Network has today issued an urgent call for the journalistic community, press freedom organisations, and relevant legal bodies to take decisive action to halt the forced starvation and crimes against journalists and media professionals in Gaza.

A press release by the Network said; “For over 21 months, the Israeli bombardment and the systematic starvation of the nearly two million people of Gaza have pushed an entire population to the brink of survival.”

Al Jazeera said that journalists in Gaza are being starved, targeted and silenced.

“The journalists on the ground, who have courageously reported on this ongoing genocide, have risked their lives and the safety of their families to shed light on these atrocities. However, they now find themselves fighting for their own survival.”

The statement cited one of the most heart-wrenching messages posted on social media on 19 July by Anas AlSharif, one its correspondent in Gaza. He wrote, “I haven’t stopped covering for a moment in 21 months, and today, I say it outright…And with indescribable pain. I am drowning in hunger, trembling in exhaustion, and resisting the fainting that follows me every moment… Gaza is dying. And we die with it.”

Dr Mostefa Souag, Director General of Al Jazeera Media Network, commenting on the plight of journalists in Gaza, stated, “We owe it to the courageous journalists in Gaza to amplify their voices and put an end to the unbearable suffering they are enduring due to forced starvation and targeted killings by Israeli occupation forces.”

The Network called for immediate action by concerned international organisations to bring an end to this forced starvation that does not spare journalists who are the bearers of truth.