France urges Israel to allow media access to Gaza
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has called on Israel to grant journalists access to Gaza, citing a “catastrophic” humanitarian situation in the war-torn enclave.
“I ask that the free and independent press be able to access Gaza to show what is happening there and to testify to it,” Barrot said in an interview with France Inter on Tuesday, News.Az reports, citing Politico.
Israel maintains strict control over media access to Gaza, limiting independent coverage of the ongoing conflict.
Barrot’s comments came a day after the journalists’ association of Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that some of their colleagues in Gaza are “starving to death.”
“None of us can remember seeing a colleague die of hunger. We refuse to see them die,” the AFP union said.
One AFP freelancer, who has worked with the agency since 2010, said: “My body is thin and I can no longer work.”
Barrot added that France is working to evacuate some AFP journalists from Gaza in the coming weeks.
The French foreign minister strongly condemned Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza.
“There is no longer any justification for the military operations of the Israeli army in Gaza,” he said. “It is an offensive that will aggravate an already catastrophic situation and cause new forced displacements of populations, which we condemn with the greatest firmness.”
Israel launched its invasion of Gaza in October 2023, following a deadly Hamas-led attack on Israeli territory that left over 1,000 people dead. The subsequent Israeli campaign has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths in Gaza, according to international observers and local officials.
International criticism of Israel is intensifying. On Monday, foreign ministers from 28 countries and the EU’s humanitarian aid commissioner condemned Israel for “the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children.”
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