BBC’s Bowen: Israel bans journalists from Gaza ‘because there’s stuff they don’t want us to see’
BBC international editor questions Israel's decision not to allow foreign journalists into Gaza
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
BBC international editor Jeremy Bowen has claimed Israel has refused to allow foreign journalists into Gaza to report on the war against Hamas “because there’s stuff there they don’t want us to see.”
Following the October 7 Hamas terror atrocity in Israel, only a limited number of international media crews have been granted access to the Gaza strip by the Israeli military, under predetermined conditions and control.
Palestinian journalists based in Gaza, often proved to have made pro-Hamas comments have instead been relied upon to report on the ongoing war.
Speaking after accepting a special fellowship award at the Society of Editors conference in London on Tuesday, Bowen suggested Palestinian journalists were doing “fantastic work”, but called for Israel to grant access to the Strip for international media.
“Why don’t they let us in?” he asked.
“Because there’s stuff there they don’t want us to see. Beginning after those Hamas attacks on 7 October, they took us into the border communities.
“I was in Kfar Aza when there was still fighting going on inside it. They had only just started taking out the bodies of the dead Israelis. Why did they let us in there? Because they wanted us to see it.”
“Why don’t they let us in to Gaza? Because they don’t want us to see it. I think it’s really as simple as that. Israel took a bit of flak for that to start with, but none now, certainly not with [President] Trump. So I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”
Israel’s Supreme court rejected an appeal requesting foreign media access into Gaza in January.
A petition appeal by the Foreign Press Association filed with the Israeli Supreme Court on 19 December has been rejected over “security concerns.”
“I think without question, it’s the bloodiest war that they’ve had since the foundation of the Israeli state of 1948,” Bowen said of the current conflict in Gaza.
“If the place could open up, people could go through, look at the records, count the graves, exhume the skeletons from under the rubble and then they’d get a better idea. But when the doors shut, these things become very, very difficult.”
Asked about the accuracy of casualty figures for the Gaza war, released by Hamas, Bowen said these are “the best measure that we have.”
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