NEW YORK: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has filed an amicus brief supporting the Foreign Press Association in Israel’s second petition to the Israeli Supreme Court, calling for free and independent access for journalists to the Gaza Strip.
Since October 7, 2023, Israeli authorities have refused to grant journalists independent access into Gaza. In the amicus brief, CPJ argued that Israel’s blanket prohibition on independent media access violates Israel’s commitments to protect journalists’ freedom of expression under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Despite a ceasefire now being in place for nearly a week, Israel has not announced plans to lift its continuous 741-day ban. Israel also refused to grant independent media access to the territory during the previous 58-day ceasefire between January and March 2025.
“For two years, Israel has sought to control the narrative on Gaza with a range of measures that are unprecedented compared to any war in modern memory,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “This includes targeted killings of Palestinian journalists, attacks on media facilities, the banning of news outlets, and the prohibition on independent media access. With a ceasefire now in place, Israel cannot be allowed to normalize this unlawful behavior.”
CPJ’s analysis identified independent access as the central principle of war reporting. Foreign journalists have independently reported from many recent, high-casualty wars, including in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in the conflict-zones controlled by Ukraine.
A CPJ review of media access in other conflicts found that Israel’s approach to prohibiting independent media access to Gaza — without adopting measures such as tailored access zones or other mechanisms to meaningfully enable press freedom — is akin to autocratic approaches to conflict, such as in Myanmar, West Papua and Russia.
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