The Government of Israel demanded explanations this Thursday from the international agencies news AP and Reuters, as well as the chain cnn and to the newspaper The New York Timesfor having used images of Gazan journalists who crossed the border during the attack Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7, and accuses those reporters of complicity in crimes.
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“Four photographers who work for these media They documented the horrors perpetrated by the terrorists of Hamas after passing the border fence“between Israel and the Gaza Strip, indicates a statement from the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO).
In that part, the head of the GPO, Nitzán Chen, demands explanations from the bureau chiefs of AP, Reuters, CNN and The New York Times, stating that their journalists “filmed the murder of civilians, the abuse of corpses and the kidnapping of men and women,” something he considered “crosses all red lines, professional and moral.”
On the other hand, the National Directorate of Public Diplomacy of the Office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded that “immediate measures be taken regarding the photographers at the service of Hamas“.
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“These journalists were accomplices to crimes against humanity; His actions were contrary to professional ethics“said the institution in a statement.
The former Minister of Defense and current member of the war cabinet, Beny Gantz wrote today through his social networks that “journalists who have known about the massacre and still chose to remain spectators while the children were slaughtered They are no different from terrorists and should be treated as such.”
The Israeli organization Honest Reporting, which monitors international media publications, published an article titled “Photographers Without Borders: AP and Reuters Images of Hamas Atrocities Raise Ethical Questions,” which asks the question “Photojournalists or infiltrators?“.
Honest Reporting alleged that crimes committed by Hamas militants in Israeli territory “were captured by photojournalists based in Gaza who work for agencies” AP and Reuters.
“What were they doing there?”, “Was the coverage coordinated with Hamas?”, “Did photojournalists who work freelance for other outlets, such as CNN and The New York Times, notify these outlets that they had violated a border?” ?, questions the article, which omits, however, that the holes in the separation fence remained open for several hours, during which not only Hamas militiamen crossed, but also residents of the Strip.
Honest Reporting also published several images attributed to four Palestinian photographers for AP and Reuters and which show several scenes: a group of Palestinians with bicycles, apparently entering the Israeli village of Kfar Aza, one of the most affected by the massacres; houses burned and armed militiamen running into that place; and militiamen transporting hostages from villages to the Palestinian enclave.
In addition, the Israeli organization published a photo in which it claims that one of the photographers appears hugging the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, although it did not specify when the photograph was taken.
The Foreign Press Association in Israel told EFE that “the journalists in question are not members” and that it will decide “how to act later.” Meanwhile, the media in question is expected to make their own statements later.
The agency AP published a statement in which denied categorically have information about the attack of Hamas before it occurred, clarified that the journalist who sent the photographs was a freelance worker who no longer works with the company and defended that “no AP staff worker crossed the fence at any time.”
Israel declared war on Hamas on October 7 after an attack by the Islamist group that included rocket fire and the infiltration of some 3 thousand militiamen who massacred some 1,400 people -most of them civilians- and kidnapped more than 240 in Israeli villages near Gaza.
Since then, the Israeli Army has responded with daily and forceful bombings on the Gaza Strip and an unprecedented ground incursion in recent years, which has left more than 10,500 Palestinians dead, 26,400 injured and 2,550 missingAccording to Palestinian authorities, the vast majority are civilians, in the midst of a humanitarian crisis.
Since day 1 of the escalation, international media have documented the events on both sides of the border, in high-risk conditions.
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At least 38 journalists have died in the region since the war broke out, a month ago: 33 of them in Gaza, another four in Israel and one in Lebanon, making this period “deadliest for reporters since 1992“, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.