Gaza: journalists killed in hospital attack
Twenty people, including five local journalists, have reportedly be killed in Israeli attacks on a hospital in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. Reuters, AP and Al Jazeera have confirmed that journalists working for them were among the victims. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of a "tragic mishap", the circumstances of which were now being investigated. Must journalists put their lives at risk to cover the situation in Gaza?
Local reporters must be protected
Israel is deliberately thwarting reporting from Gaza, the Süddeutsche Zeitung surmises:
“Foreign journalists are denied independent access to Gaza. Local journalists are being killed to prevent the whole world from seeing the horrors in Gaza. Doubts are sown about the images that circulate despite all the efforts to suppress them, and campaigns are launched against journalists. And it's working: the outcry among the journalists' colleagues is muted; many see the journalists there as nothing more than second-class 'newshounds'. Yes, there are aspects of their work that can be criticised. ... A handful of them have views that are unacceptable. That needs to be discussed. But now, above all, they must be protected.”
Many Israelis see attacks as justified
It's shocking that Israel's population finds these attacks acceptable, writes The Irish Times:
“The latest public opinion poll (from Hebrew University's aChord Center) shows that 76 percent of Jewish Israelis agree - in full or in part - that 'there are no innocents in Gaza'. ... Public opinion in Israel is partly shaped by the members of the media here who openly call for the killing of Palestinian journalists in Gaza, or find ways to justify it. On i24news, senior commentator Zvi Yehezkeli said: 'If Israel decides to eliminate the journalists, then better late than never ... Israel did well to eliminate them, in my opinion belatedly'.”
Targeting the world's eyes
Both sides in the conflict are targeting media representatives in Gaza, complains Dagens Nyheter:
“There can be no doubt that what is happening in Gaza is a war crime, and the fact that journalists are not allowed to enter the country to investigate and report on what is going on is of course a very deliberate decision by Netanyahu's government. ... Reporters in Gaza already risk being persecuted by Hamas terrorists if they report 'false' information. Now they also risk being murdered in a war that has been blown out of proportion. The eyes and ears of the world in Gaza must not be silenced. We must not become blind and deaf to what is happening there.”