Despite the limited reopening of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on 1 February, journalists in Gaza continue to live in constant danger under the Israeli blockade depriving them of resources, freedom of movement and adequate infrastructure. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urges the Israeli government to lift the blockade immediately.
“Nearly four months after the ceasefire, Gaza’s journalists are at breaking point. Although a limited opening has been announced, they are still cut off from the world, still threatened, exhausted and forgotten. Yet, despite their limited means, despite destroyed infrastructure, despite everything, they continue to report the news. They need protection and support. The Israeli authorities must put a definitive end to the targeting of reporters and the blockade preventing them from leaving the territory, receiving essential resources, and which continues to bar the international press from accessing the territory, so they cannot relieve the media professionals in Gaza who are exhausted by two years of war, extreme deprivation and constant danger.”
1. Exhaustion: After more than two years of reporting in extreme conditions, journalists remain trapped west of the “yellow line” – the line marking the area from which the Israeli army has withdrawn since the ceasefire, cutting the Gaza Strip in two from north to south. Fellow journalists from foreign press are unable to join them and offer support due to the ban imposed by the Israeli government.
2. Danger: Three more journalists were targeted and killed by an Israeli drone in January 2026. Despite an official ceasefire, the Israeli army continues to strike populations living near its “yellow line” and carry out targeted killings in areas designated for civilians and journalists.
3. Destruction: With their homes destroyed, journalists are living in tents and in apartments damaged by bombardments. They lack cameras, tripods, batteries, phones, chargers and adequate safety equipment. Communication infrastructure is severely damaged and access to electricity and the internet is rare, slow and expensive.
4. Dire financial problems: Reporters work in unstable conditions, often without long-term contract, and with fewer assignments, since the ceasefire. Their situation is exacerbated by a rampant inflation throughout the closed-off territory: a litre of fuel cost seven shekels in 2023 (around two EUR), but now costs nearly 75 shekels (almost 20 EUR).
“Forgotten by the world”
Before the ceasefire in Gaza, Nour Swirki used to report live six or seven times a day for the Egyptian channel Al Sharq TV. Now, almost four months after the official ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas came into force, her reports are broadcast barely once or twice a day. The journalist, shortlisted for the RSF Courage Prize in 2025, was forced to make an impossible choice in April 2024: evacuating her two children from Gaza while staying behind to continue covering the situation in Gaza. “In 2026, we are no longer the main story,” she says regretfully. While the lessened pressure to cover breaking news has given her time to recover, the void is also difficult to bear. “We finally have time to grieve. We realise what we have lost. All our colleagues who have been murdered, and at the same time, we feel that the world has forgotten us.” Her colleague Anas Baba, the official correspondent for US radio network National Public Radio (NPR) since 2019, who also chose to remain in Gaza for work, confirms this: “International and regional media have largely lost interest in covering Gaza,” the 32-year-old reporter told RSF. “Freelance journalists who continue to cover [the Gaza Strip] are working without contracts, without stability and without protection.”
Threats persist despite a ceasefire
And yet the dangers remain. On 21 January 2026, three of Nour Swirki’s colleagues at Al Sharq TV – Mohammad Salah Qashta, Anas Ghneim and Abdul Raouf Shaath, also freelancers for Agence France-Presse (AFP) – were targeted and killed by an Israeli drone. Their names are now part of the tragic list of the over 220 journalists killed by the Israeli army in Gaza, including at least 68 who were targeted or killed while working, according to RSF information. “Their deaths left us stunned,” says Nour Swirki. “We are all targets, vulnerable at any given moment, and no place is safe.” Since the ceasefire, Gaza’s civilian population, including journalists, has been confined to the western side of the “yellow line” defined by the Israeli army, which is monitored day and night. Nearly half of the territory on the eastern side of this line is completely inaccessible to the press. Even journalists on the other side of the “yellow line” can be killed without warning if they are deemed suspicious by the Israeli army, according to reporters. “The army continues to hunt down and kill journalists in Gaza,” says Thaer al-Moustafa, an independent journalist who works with the British daily The Guardian. “We need protection.”
Shattered infrastructure and an ongoing blockade
Evacuations from Gaza are rare and aid is limited, so reporters in the territory remain cut off from the world and lack functional equipment, protective gear and sufficient access to electricity, fuel and internet. “Internet access is not available everywhere and is very expensive – sometimes ten times the usual cost. The same goes for charging your phone, finding a car to get to a location and buying fuel,” explains Nour Swirki. Journalists in Gaza have also lost their homes in the bombardments. While some have been able to rent temporary flats, others continue to live and work in tents or near hospitals. In these dire circumstances, “reporting has become a struggle for survival rather than just a journalism job,” sums up Anas Baba.
On the other side of the border, the Israeli authorities are maintaining their ban on foreign press entry into Gaza, despite international pressure and a recent hearing before the Israeli Supreme Court, which RSF participated in as an amicus curiae. “We need the support of our colleagues,” says Nour Swirki. “Not because we are incapable, but because we are exhausted and lack certain investigative skills, tools and expertise that they can provide.”
