RIYADH: The Media Freedom Coalition, which promotes press freedoms worldwide, called Thursday for Israel to allow independent, foreign news organizations access to the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza.
“Journalists and media workers play an essential role in putting the spotlight on the devastating reality of war,” said a joint statement signed by members of the coalition from 27 countries, including Britain, France and Germany.
The statement also condemned the violence directed against journalists and media workers, and called on Israeli authorities and all other parties “to make every effort to ensure that media workers in the conflict area can conduct their work freely and safely.”
“Deliberate targeting of journalists is unacceptable. International humanitarian law offers protection to civilian journalists during armed conflict,” the statement said, adding that every attack against media workers must be investigated and those responsible prosecuted.
The other signatories were Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the Netherlands, and Canada.
