BBC and Global News Agencies Urge Israel to Open Gaza to Journalists

Tue Oct 21 2025 03:35:42 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

In a new appeal, the BBC and three leading international news agencies call for Israel to allow foreign journalists access to Gaza, voicing concerns over the challenges faced by local reporters during the ongoing conflict.

The BBC, alongside AFP, AP, and Reuters, has released a short film urging Israel to permit foreign journalists into Gaza amidst the ongoing hostilities. Narrated by veteran journalist David Dimbleby, the appeal highlights the crucial role of international reporting and the dire circumstances faced by Palestinian journalists on the ground. The call for access comes in response to the restrictive measures placed by Israel following the 2023 escalation of violence.

The BBC and three international news agencies have released a short film calling on Israel to allow foreign journalists into Gaza.

The film, launched by the corporation with Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Associated Press (AP), and Reuters, is narrated by veteran BBC journalist David Dimbleby.

He said: International journalists must now be allowed into Gaza to share the burden with the Palestinian reporters there so we can all bring the facts to the world.

Foreign journalists have been banned from entering Gaza independently since Israel launched its 2023 offensive following the Hamas 7 October attacks. A small number have been taken into the Strip by Israeli troops under controlled access.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has previously stated that to allow journalists to report safely in Gaza, the military accompanies them when in the battlefield.

The BBC has contacted the Israeli foreign ministry and the IDF for comment.

Last year, Israel's High Court of Justice ruled that restrictions on entry to Gaza were justified on security grounds.

Deborah Turness, CEO of BBC News, stated: It is almost two years since October 7th when the world witnessed Hamas' atrocities. Since then, a war has been raging in Gaza but international journalists are not allowed in. We must now be let into Gaza. To work alongside local journalists, so we can all bring the facts to the world.

The film premieres in New York on Wednesday night at an event hosted by the Committee to Protect Journalists, to coincide with the United Nations General Assembly. It features footage of historic events and atrocities captured by journalists.

These include scenes from the D-Day landings during World War Two, the Vietnam War, Ethiopia's 1984 famine, China's Tiananmen Square protests, the Rwandan genocide, the Syrian refugee crisis, and the war in Ukraine.

In Ukraine, journalists from around the world risk their lives every day to report the suffering of the people, Dimbleby notes in the film. But when it comes to Gaza the job of reporting falls solely to Palestinian journalists, who are paying a terrible cost, leaving fewer to bear witness.

This is not the first time news organizations have called on Israeli authorities to allow journalists into the territory. In July, BBC News, AFP, AP, and Reuters expressed desperate concern for journalists in Gaza experiencing dire circumstances, including hunger and displacement.

In August, 27 countries, including the UK, backed a statement calling for Israel to allow immediate foreign media access to Gaza and condemned attacks on journalists there.

According to the UN Human Rights Office, at least 248 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza.

Israel has repeatedly denied that its forces target journalists.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, resulting in about 1,200 fatalities and 251 hostages taken. Since then, at least 65,419 people have been killed in Gaza, as reported by the territory's Hamas-run health ministry; these figures are often cited as the most reliable source of casualty statistics.

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