Published On 5/11/2025
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Last update: 14:00 (Mecca time)
A US official admitted to The Times of Israel that the issue of foreign journalists entering the Gaza Strip is not a priority for the administration of US President Donald Trump, allowing Israel to maintain its ban.
The newspaper, citing two American officials, said that the Trump administration slightly urged Israel to allow foreign press to enter the Strip, after the ceasefire entered into force on October 10.
Last August, Trump answered a journalist’s question regarding this issue by saying that he would like to allow international journalists to enter Gaza, noting that the situation there was unsafe.
Despite continuous global demands to allow foreign journalists to enter the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, Israel continued to prevent their entry even after the ceasefire took effect under security pretexts, while the Israeli Supreme Court postponed hearings to consider the possibility of entry for journalists 7 times.
On October 23, the Israeli Supreme Court granted Israel an additional 30 days to respond to a petition submitted by the Foreign Press Association in 2024 demanding the entry of international journalists into the Gaza Strip, and to challenge the ban imposed by Israel on their entry since the start of the genocidal war on the Strip on October 7, 2023.
During the last court session, the Public Prosecutor acknowledged that “the situation has changed” in the Gaza Strip, and added that Israel plans to renew the Israeli army’s escort of journalists within the so-called “yellow line,” to which the occupation forces withdrew when the ceasefire was announced about two weeks ago.
The Ynet website, affiliated with the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, said that Israel is preparing for a “propaganda war” before the foreign press enters the Gaza Strip, as it plans field tours for journalists under the supervision of the Israeli army to present alleged evidence justifying the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli website stated that Israeli officials are preparing for what they describe as an expected wave of humanitarian reports in Gaza, which will inflame international criticism of Israel and strengthen its accusation of committing genocide and war crimes.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor confirmed that Israel continues to implement, in an organized and institutional manner, a systematic policy of obliterating material evidence of genocide and war crimes that it committed over the course of two years in the Gaza Strip, with serial field and administrative measures, including preventing the entry of international journalists and independent investigative committees, in an attempt to obstruct any criminal investigation or field documentation that establishes the truth and proves its legal responsibility.
Scenes documenting widespread destruction and rubble covering the city of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip as a result of the continuous Israeli bombing during the war.#video pic.twitter.com/CK4ulUUCIO
– Al Jazeera Channel (@AJArabic) November 5, 2025
The Observatory stressed in a statement that the continued ban on foreign press entry into the Gaza Strip constitutes part of a consistent and coherent policy practiced by the Israeli authorities, with their executive, security and judicial arms, to keep crimes outside the scope of international monitoring and obstruct any accountability or independent investigation into grave violations.
He warned that any delay in the entry of international journalists into Gaza would give Israel more time to complete the erasure of evidence and material evidence and destroy the memory of the crime.