Why journalists don’t have free rein in Gaza

Over the past two years, we have heard many indignant media personalities – yes you, Piers Morgan, who has yet to step foot in Israel – castigate Israel for not allowing journalists into Gaza and demand immediate access to cover what’s happening there. What’s the reality? Is Israel hiding something and purposefully not allowing journalists in to cover it up?

The reality is a lot more simple – and complicated. Israel has let journalists into Gaza since the start of the war, albeit in embeds with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). As early as November 2023, international media including teams from Fox News, NBC, CNN, and others entered the Gaza Strip to file stories with the IDF.

There are two ways that the press can enter Gaza. The one way is to be embedded with the IDF; and the other is as a Hamas-sanctioned reporter. It’s easy to guess which option would be the safest. Many have forgotten that in 2007, BBC journalist Alan Johnston was kidnapped in Gaza by the Army of Islam, an offshoot of a powerful criminal clan in Gaza known as the Doghmush. He was released after 114 days.

During 2014’s Operation Protective Edge, Italian journalist Gabriele Barbati said he was able to speak freely about witnessing a Hamas misfire that killed nine children at the Shati camp, confirming the IDF version of events, but only after leaving Gaza, “far from Hamas retaliation”.

How do they think Hamas, whose strategy is predicated on as many civilian casualties as possible, will treat journalists going in on their own accord? How do they think Hamas will treat civilians, who will be undoubtedly “coerced” into parroting their propaganda?

The frustration for many journalists is that they want to go into Gaza of their own accord. The reality is that the battlefield in Gaza is unprecedented. Densely concentrated urban warfare with booby-trapped buildings and a subterranean tunnel system to rival any metro, combined with a terrorist organisation that uses the civilian population as human shields, has turned the entire Gaza Strip into a frontline. Going in with the IDF is the only safe assurance that they will exit, life intact.

Those who call the lack of access “unprecedented” aren’t speaking factually. Military experts and former officers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have assured me that under no circumstances would they allow journalists on the frontline. This is evident in Ukraine as well. The issue is that the density of the Gaza Strip essentially means that the entire area is the frontline. Soldiers have told me that there is barely a house without a tunnel or weapons cache inside, usually situated in children’s bedrooms. We cannot forget that the bodies of the “beautiful six” who were taken hostage and murdered by Hamas were discovered in a tunnel under a child’s bedroom.

This week I witnessed unnerving activity on X by Palestinian journalist Omar Abd Rabou. For weeks, he has been begging for help to get out of Gaza, including approaching Morgan, who blocked him.

Abd Rabou has often criticised Hamas. On 27 August, he issued this apology: “I extend my sincere apology to Hamas for any previous posts or comments that may have contained criticism, offence, or could have been misunderstood as such. I have deleted all related posts, and affirm my commitment not to publish anything against the movement or engage in matters related to the war on Gaza.”

Abd Rabou now just appeals for help to get his family out of Gaza – any references to Hamas are gone.

I have been into Gaza.

Several weeks ago, I was part of a small press contingent taken into the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing to document the thousands of pallets of humanitarian aid that the United Nations (UN) and various aid agencies have been slow to collect, while routinely accusing Israel of initiating a policy of mass starvation. Aid trucks with their drivers inside waiting for the green light from the UN idled nearby, and a UN vehicle was stationed in the vicinity. Journalists were given free rein to walk around and document what they were seeing. While we were under the watchful eye of the IDF, there to protect us and answer any questions we may have had, none of the soldiers inhibited us in any way or told us that we had to share any specific information. What we witnessed spoke for itself. It spoke to everyone, it seemed, except for the two correspondents from ABC.

Standing among the towers of aid marked “UN”; “UNICEF” (United Nations Children’s Fund); and “World Food Programme”, with a solemn face, the ABC journalist said, “This is the face that Israel wants you to see – how it is prosecuting the delivery of humanitarian aid.” The reporter continued with his scathing report, trying to cast doubt on Israel’s claims.

Several takes were needed to make it sufficiently withering in its delivery. One wonders what journalists left to their own devices in Gaza would be forced to say by Hamas and their supportive thugs.

Could Israel do better? Definitely. Perhaps more frequent embeds need to be arranged and definitely more frequent briefings with more information should be given to the media.

With all this outrage directed at Israel’s granting of access to Gaza for journalists, I cannot help but wonder where the international community’s outrage is that Hamas still holds 48 hostages, or that the Red Cross hasn’t given any food or medicine to starving hostages. I guess outrage is selective.

• Rolene Marks is a Middle East commentator often heard on radio and TV and is the co-founder of Lay of the Land and the SA-Israel Policy Forum.