Al Jazeera appeals to global media community to protect journalists in Gaza from 'forced starvation'

New Delhi: The Al Jazeera Media Network has called upon the journalistic community, organisations advocating press freedom and legal bodies to take "decisive action" to put an end to the "forced starvation" and crimes against media professionals in Gaza.

In a press release issued on Wednesday, the Doha-based media network said for more than 21 months, the Israeli bombardment and the "systematic starvation" of the nearly 20 lakh people of Gaza have "pushed an entire population to the brink of survival".

"Al Jazeera Media Network urgently calls upon the journalistic community, press freedom organisations, and relevant legal bodies to take decisive action to halt the forced starvation and crimes against journalists and media professionals in Gaza," it said.

The journalists on the ground, who have courageously reported on this ongoing "genocide", have risked their lives and the safety of their families to shed light on these "atrocities", the press release said, adding that "however, they now find themselves fighting for their own survival".

On July 19, Al Jazeera journalists began posting "heart-wrenching" messages on social media, signalling that their capacity to continue was waning, it said.

"One powerful post by Anas AlShariff, Al Jazeera Arabic channel correspondent in Gaza, stated, 'I haven't stopped covering for a moment in 21 months, and today, I say it outright.... And with indescribable pain. I am drowning in hunger, trembling in exhaustion, and resisting the fainting that follows me every moment.... Gaza is dying. And we die with it'," the release said.

Commenting on the plight of journalists in Gaza, Dr Mostefa Souag, director general of the Al Jazeera Media Network, said, "We owe it to the courageous journalists in Gaza to amplify their voices and put an end to the unbearable suffering they are enduring due to forced starvation and targeted killings by Israeli occupation forces."

"The journalistic community and the world bear an immense responsibility. It is our duty to raise our voices and mobilise all available means to support our colleagues in this noble profession. If we fail to act now, we risk a future where there may be no one left to tell our stories. Our inaction will be recorded in history as a monumental failure to protect our fellow journalists and a betrayal of the principles that every journalist strives to uphold," he added.

Since October 2023, Israeli forces have killed five Al Jazeera journalists -- Samer Abudaqqa, Hamza AlDahdouh, Ismael Al-Ghoul, Ahmed Al-Louh and Hossam Shabat -- and several family members of journalists working for Al Jazeera and other media organisations, the release said.

"Yet, these courageous journalists, along with their colleagues, refuse to succumb to the threats and pressure tactics employed by the Israeli authorities to silence them.

"Submission to such intimidation would have resulted in an almost total blackout of coverage of the ongoing genocide, forced starvation, and crimes against humanity inflicted upon the civilian population of Gaza," it added.

The media network called for immediate action by the international organisations concerned to put an end to this "forced starvation that does not spare journalists who are the bearers of truth".