Foreign journalists in Israel are upset. Israel has prevented them from entering the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war, which began with the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023. A spokesman for the Foreign Press Association in Israel recently urged authorities to "lift restrictions without delay, allowing all journalists to work securely and without fear or hesitation" in the Gaza Strip.
Before the war, the journalists now complaining that Israel is not allowing them to enter Gaza were able to visit there anytime they liked.
Mostly, however, the foreign journalists chose not to go there. Perhaps they did not think they could come back with an "interesting story," meaning one that could criticize Israel. Reminder: Israel fully withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005.
As far as the journalists were apparently concerned, after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in a violent coup against the Palestinian Authority in 2007, there was nothing to cover. They also might have been afraid to enter an area ruled by Hamas terrorists.
When foreign journalists were allowed into Gaza, we heard no complaints -- no complaints when Hamas imposed restrictions on their work inside Gaza, and no complaints when Hamas waged a brutal crackdown on Palestinian and Arab journalists, human rights activists, and political rivals.
Since 2007, Hamas had been imposing restrictions on foreign journalists. In 2011, the BBC reported that foreign journalists "must now apply [to Hamas] five days in advance in order to work" in the Gaza Strip.
According to the report, Hamas asked some foreign journalists to sign forms saying that if they published any items critical of the terror group, then local Palestinian journalists they worked with would be held responsible.
In addition to the restrictions, Hamas also arrested and tortured Palestinian journalists and political activists. In 2017, Amnesty International reported:
"At least 12 activists and journalists were detained and questioned over comments and caricatures posted on social media deemed critical of Hamas authorities. Amnesty International also gathered evidence suggesting at least one of the activists was tortured and otherwise ill-treated in custody including being beaten, blindfolded, and forced into stress positions for prolonged periods."
Most of the foreign journalists now complaining that Israel is not allowing them into the Gaza Strip did not bother to report about the Hamas crackdown on their colleagues and human rights activists.
In 2016, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report noted:
"The Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and Gaza are arresting, abusing, and criminally charging journalists and activists who express peaceful criticism of the authorities. The crackdown directly violates obligations that Palestine recently assumed in ratifying international treaties protecting free speech. In Gaza, Hamas authorities detained and intimidated an activist who criticized the government for failing to protect a man with a mental disability; a journalist who posted a photograph of a woman looking for food in a garbage bin; and a journalist who alleged medical malpractice at a public hospital after a newborn baby died."
Again, most of the foreign journalists chose to ignore Hamas's campaign of intimidation against Palestinian journalists and human rights activists. Many of the foreign journalists, in fact, habitually turn a blind eye to human rights violations committed by Palestinians against their own people. Instead -- a long tradition among the foreign press -- they search for stories that reflect negatively on Israel. They seem to believe it is their duty to side with the underdog, the Palestinians, and run cover for their crimes against humanity.
All of that is precisely why Hamas now wants foreign journalists to come to the Gaza Strip. The terror group needs the journalists to spread its anti-Israel propaganda.
According to the news outlet Ynet, a study released this week by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center revealed that "about 60 percent of the people described as journalists or media workers who were killed during the war in the Gaza Strip were Hamas operatives or members of other terror groups."
"Hamas leaders have repeatedly said that the media front is as important as the military one.... The study highlighted the widespread use of dual roles in Gaza, where media workers simultaneously serve as armed operatives. This pattern was especially evident in cooperation between Hamas and the Qatar based Al Jazeera network..... [I]ntelligence and documents seized in Gaza that confirmed the affiliation of several Al Jazeera journalists with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In October last year, the IDF published information identifying six Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza as members of the two terror groups."
Foreign journalists also always had an opportunity to enter the Gaza Strip directly from Egypt, through the Rafah border crossing, especially before the war. Israel had abandoned the Egypt-Gaza border crossing nearly 20 years ago, leaving it under the exclusive control of Hamas and the Egyptian authorities. Many foreign journalists, however, chose not to travel to Gaza, probably -- or because -- there was nothing "bad" to report there about Israel.
Today, we know that the majority of the foreign journalists who did enter the Gaza Strip over the past two decades had no access whatsoever to Hamas's vast network of terror tunnels or to its massive military infrastructure. The journalists who did visit were not able to see how Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups were transforming the beautiful Gaza Strip into one of the largest bases for Jihad and terrorism in the Middle East.
Even if they had seen such activities, they would not have filed reports about them, thanks to Hamas's restrictions and threats.
"Press freedom violations by Hamas during the war have been vastly underreported," the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) detailed on May 15, 2025.
"The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) often documents Hamas attacks on the media internally, without publicizing them, for fear of reprisals. In other cases, PJS staff hear about events secondhand as journalists are too scared to report them."
PJS head Nasser Abu Bakr told CPJ:
"There are major violations committed by the Hamas government and group against journalists. The violations range from summonses, interrogations, phone calls, threats, sometimes beatings and arrests, to harassment, publication bans, interference with content, and surveillance."
The foreign journalists who are presently crying that they want to enter the Gaza Strip will face exactly the same threats, restrictions, and harassment by Hamas. They will be permitted to write only stories that depict the Palestinians as victims of Israel, not of the terrorist group Hamas. They will probably comply, telling themselves that lying-by-omission will at least grant them "access."
Journalists who allow themselves to be intimidated by Hamas or any other party will never be able to report with any credibility.
Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East. His work is made possible through the generous donation of a couple who wish to remain anonymous. Gatestone is most grateful.
