JERUSALEM: Israel’s Supreme Court on Thursday pushed back the hearing of a petition filed by an organization representing international media outlets in Israel and the Palestinian territories, demanding independent access for journalists to Gaza.
Since the Gaza war began in October 2023, Israeli authorities have prevented foreign journalists from entering the devastated territory, taking only a handful of reporters inside on tightly controlled visits alongside its troops.
On Thursday, Israel’s top court began the hearing of a petition filed by the Foreign Press Association (FPA) seeking access to Gaza.
The State Attorney acknowledged “the situation has changed” and requested a further 30 days to examine the circumstances. No date has been set for the next hearing.
Ahead of the hearing, FPA chairperson Tania Kraemer said: “We’ve been waiting really long for this day.”
“We are saying that we hope to get into Gaza, that they open Gaza after this long blockade, and we are hoping to get in there to work alongside our Palestinian colleagues,” she added.
The FPA, which represents hundreds of foreign journalists, began petitioning for independent access to Gaza soon after the war broke out in October 2023 following Hamas’s attack on Israel.
But these demands have been repeatedly ignored by Israeli authorities.
An AFP journalist sits on the FPA’s board of directors.
’No excuse’
“We have a right to inform the public, the people of the world, the Israeli public, the Palestinian population,” Nicolas Rouget, an FPA board member, said outside the courtroom ahead of the hearing.
“We feel we must stand by them, by our Palestinian colleagues in Gaza, who have been the only ones able to inform the public about this conflict over the last two years,” he added.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has joined the petition filed by the FPA.
While Israel has prevented foreign reporters from entering Gaza, its forces have killed more than 210 Palestinian journalists in the territory, Antoine Bernard, RSF’s director for advocacy and assistance, said on Tuesday.
“The result is an unprecedented violation of press freedom and the public’s right to reliable, independent, and pluralistic media reporting,” Bernard said.
“The Supreme Court has the opportunity to finally uphold basic democratic principles in the face of widespread propaganda, disinformation, and censorship, and to end two years of meticulous and unrestrained destruction of journalism in and about Gaza.
“No excuse, no restriction can justify not opening Gaza to international, Israeli and Palestinian media,” he said.
On October 10, Israel declared a ceasefire and started pulling back troops from some areas of the territory, as part of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war.
Israel’s top court postpones petition demanding media access to Gaza
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Israel’s top court postpones petition demanding media access to Gaza
- Israel’s Supreme Court on Thursday pushed back the hearing of a petition demanding independent access for journalists to Gaza
US military operations ‘ahead of schedule,’ Iranian leaders want to talk: Trump
- Trump also said Sunday that 48 Iranian leaders have been killed in the US-Israeli bombardments
- Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said a leadership council had temporarily assumed duties
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Iran’s new leadership wants to talk to him and that he has agreed, according to an interview with the Atlantic magazine.
“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them. They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long,” Trump said in the interview from his Florida residence. Trump did not specify who he would be speaking with or say whether it would occur on Sunday or Monday.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said a leadership council composed of himself, the judiciary head and a member of the powerful Guardians Council had temporarily assumed the duties of supreme leader following the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump said some of the people who were involved in recent talks with the US are no longer alive.
“Most of those people are gone. Some of the people we were dealing with are gone, because that was a big — that was a big hit,” he was quoted as saying in the interview with Atlantic staff writer Michael Scherer. “They should have done it sooner, Michael. They could have made a deal. They should’ve done it sooner. They played too cute.”
Offensive moving ‘ahead of schedule’
Trump also said Sunday that 48 Iranian leaders have been killed in the US-Israeli bombardments of the country and that the offensive is “very positive.”
“Nobody can believe the success we’re having, 48 leaders are gone in one shot. And it’s moving along rapidly,” Trump was quoted as saying in an interview by Fox News.
Trump claimed overall success in the war, which was launched Saturday with the goal of removing Iran’s leadership and destroying its military. Iran has confirmed the death of its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
“We’re doing our job not just for us but for the world. And everything is ahead of schedule,” Trump was quoted as saying in a separate interview with CNBC.
“Things are evolving in a very positive way right now, a very positive way,” he said.
The interviews were conducted before the US military for the first time announced casualties in the war: three unidentified service members killed, five seriously wounded and several others more lightly injured.
Trump announced Sunday that the US military was sinking Iran’s Navy, having destroyed nine Iranian warships so far and “going after the rest.”
Trump made the announcement in a social media post as the Pentagon intensified its bombings of Iran’s military, deploying B-2 stealth bombers from the US to strike at hardened, underground Iranian missile facilities with 2,000-lb bombs.
US strikes also pummeled Iran’s naval headquarters, largely destroying it, Trump said.
