A decision by Israel’s top court Thursday to delay a ruling on granting foreign journalists immediate access to Gaza angered an international media group representing outlets in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, Israeli authorities have prevented foreign journalists from entering the devastated territory, taking only a handful of reporters inside on tightly controlled visits alongside its troops.
The Foreign Press Association (FPA), which represents hundreds of foreign journalists, had filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking immediate access for international journalists to Gaza.
The court held its first hearing Thursday.
The State Attorney acknowledged that "the situation has changed" since the Gaza cease-fire but requested a further 30 days to examine the circumstances.
On Oct. 10, a U.S.-backed cease-fire took effect and Israel started pulling back troops from some areas of Gaza.
The court granted Israeli authorities a month to develop a plan for granting foreign journalists access to Gaza.
"The Foreign Press Association is disappointed in the Israeli Supreme Court's decision to grant the State of Israel yet another delay regarding the independent entry of journalists into Gaza," the FPA said in a statement after the hearing.
"We did not get what we wanted exactly. We were hoping that the court would order the state to open the border immediately," FPA board member Josef Federman told AFP.
"This is something that we have been working on and fighting for for the past two years," he said.
The FPA expressed hope that "the court will stand firmly against further delays by the state."
"The state today once again relied on stalling tactics to prevent the entry of journalists," it said.
The FPA said the Israeli government had sought to delay the entry of journalists into Gaza repeatedly, halting them from "carrying out their journalistic duties and hindering the public's right to information."
"The government's position remains unacceptable. We renew our call for immediate access to Gaza," it added.
An AFP journalist serves on the FPA's board of directors.
FPA lawyer Gilead Sher expressed hope that within the 30-day period, there could be an "interim arrangement for the entry of journalists into Gaza."
"I hope that the Foreign Press Association will get compliance with what it requests, which is to allow us to cover the situation in Gaza," he told AFP.
The FPA began petitioning for independent access to Gaza soon after the war broke out following Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, incursion into Israel.
But these demands have been repeatedly ignored by Israeli authorities.
"What we want is full, independent, and immediate access for the international media," said Federman.
"We've never seen anything like this, a two-year conflict where reporters have been barred from the conflict zone."
"Throughout the war, we've only had really a partial picture of what's going on inside Gaza," he said.
"We all have relied on Palestinian colleagues. They're very brave in what they have done, but they're working in really difficult circumstances."
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has joined the petition filed by the FPA, and said that Israeli forces have killed more than 210 Palestinian journalists in Gaza.
"The result is an unprecedented violation of press freedom and the public's right to reliable, independent, and pluralistic media reporting," Antoine Bernard, RSF's director for advocacy and assistance, said in a statement on Tuesday.
"No excuse, no restriction can justify not opening Gaza to international, Israeli and Palestinian media," he said.
