Reporters Without Borders Project Director Louise Allen Bichet joins “Early Start” to discuss reaction to the Israeli strike that killed five Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza.

Jerusalem

Israel and Iran have agreed a ceasefire after a twelve day conflict. Meanwhile, Israel strikes in Gaza continue with the humanitarian crisis deepening.

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The director general of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has strongly condemned the killing of five Al Jazeera journalists in a recent Israeli strike, describing it as part of a broader strategy to suppress information from Gaza. RSF's leadership called on the international community to take immediate action, emphasizing that over 200 journalists have been killed since October 2023, many allegedly targeted by the Israeli army.

RSF highlighted ongoing restrictions on international journalists' access to Gaza, which have been in place for nearly two years. The organization expressed outrage and frustration, pointing to previous warnings about risks to journalists and describing the situation as an organized information blackout.

Reporters Without Borders director reacts to killing of journalists

I want to start with what your organization has said in response to the Israeli strike that killed these five members of Al Jazeera. Here's what RSF's director general said. This massacre and Israel's media blackout strategy designed to conceal the crimes committed by its army for more than 21 months in the besieged and starving Palestinian enclave must be stopped immediately. The international community can no longer turn a blind eye and must react and put an end to this impunity. So Louise, will this be a turning point moment or will it turn out to be another blip? It must be a turning point. It must become at least being a part of a wake-up call for the international community. Something has to change. This cannot continue to happen. We know this tactic. We know, and you're referring to the statement of our director, I think it reflects pretty good what we are feeling right now. We are outraged. We are furious. And we are bitter as well, because we communicated, we published, I'm thinking of last October 24 about the risk that we're waiting on Anas al-Sharif, because he was a victim of defamation campaign by the Israeli army. And we know how it ends. We are now, like, at 200, more than 200 journalists killed, targeted, specifically targeted by the Israeli army since the 7th of October 23. This is, again, part, again, I'm referring to the statement of our organization, Reporters Without Borders, because we really feel that it's part of an overall strategy of organizing an information blackout inside the Gaza Strip by killing journalists, Palestinian journalists, and by restricting or closing the access to the Gaza Strip by the international journalists that cannot, I recall, enter the Gaza Strip to report since almost two years now.

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Reporters Without Borders director reacts to killing of journalists

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