Reporting Under Siege: Israel’s War on Journalists in Gaza
Nader Durgham | Much of the news from the war on Gaza has come from local journalists, and their reporting has come at a historically high cost. | “The most difficult day to cover: bombardment, destruction, massacres, and arrests after long months of siege and starvation,” wrote Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif on X, as he was covering Israel’s latest raid on Al-Shifa Hospital and its surroundings in Gaza City on March 18. His colleague Ismail Al-Ghoul was abducted from the hospital along with other journalists by Israeli forces. He was reportedly stripped off his clothes and severely beaten before being released 12 hours later. The army “interrogated all the journalists present at the scene,” according to Al-Sharif, who had to then report on the abduction of another one of his colleagues, Mahmoud Aliwa. ● This was yet another episode of Israel’s devastating war on Gaza which has killed over 31,000 Palestinians and injured over 74,000 since October 7. The death rate along with the massive scale of destruction has led to accusations of genocide against Israel, including one at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).