By Janet Ekstract ISTANBUL-As Israel expands its ground incursion into Gaza, The Committee To Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Friday, warned the world about reports of a communication blackout in Gaza. The committee said this could lead to a critical void on information with extremely dire consequences. The group, based in New York said the world “is losing a window to reality” about events in Gaza as a multitude of news organizations lose contact with correspondents on the ground. As the committee stated: “The Israel-Gaza war has entered a new stage with intensified bombing and ground operations by Israeli forces. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPI) is highly alarmed by widespread reports of a communications blackout in Gaza.”
The committee added that the blackout creates a dangerous “vacuum” where independent factual information is displaced by “deadly propaganda” along with misinformation and disinformation. As the group further stated: “We remind all warring factions – including outside of Isrsael’s internationally recognized borders – that journalists are civilians and must be respected and protected by all warring parties in accordance with international humanitarian law. Deliberately targeting journalists or media infrastructure constitutes possible war crimes.” A number of Palestinian journalists, at least 18, were killed in the last two weeks and the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is known to ignore such warnings. This was evidenced during an Israeli military raid on a refugee camp in Jenin on May 11, 2022 when well-known Palestinian journalist Shirin Abu Akleh was killed by those same forces.
