Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s international editor, has accused the Israeli government of preventing journalists from entering Gaza to conceal scenes “they don’t want us to see”.
Bowen stated that in the last 18 months, he had only been allowed half a day with the Israeli army within Gaza. He argued that this lack of access is part of an effort to “obfuscate what’s going on, and to inject this notion of doubt into information that comes out”.
After accepting a special fellowship award for the Society of Editors conference, Bowen said that while Palestinian journalists are doing “fantastic work”, he and other international media colleagues aim to contribute to on-ground reporting in Gaza.
Bowen questioned, “Why don’t they let us in? Because there’s stuff there they don’t want us to see. After the 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.”
He further added, “Why don’t they let us into Gaza? Because they don’t want us to see it. I think it’s really as simple as that. Israel faced some criticism for this initially, but none now, especially not with [President] Trump. So, I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”
The Israeli government has been approached for comment. Previously, Israel’s military has stated that they have escorted journalists to Gaza to ensure their safety. According to the Foreign Press Association, Israel’s defense authorities argue that journalists in Gaza could be at risk during wartime and could endanger soldiers by reporting on troop positions.
Since the war began, scores of journalists have been killed.
When asked if international media should trust casualty figures from Gaza’s health ministry, led by Hamas, Bowen replied that these numbers are currently “the best measure that we have” due to the inability of reporters and other organizations to verify them. The ministry claims that over 50,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war.
Bowen stated, “Without question, it’s the bloodiest war they’ve had since the foundation of the Israeli state in 1948. 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.”
Last year, Bowen joined forces with 50 journalists, including the BBC’s Lyse Doucet and its former presenter Mishal Husain, urging Israel and Egypt to grant “free and unfettered access to Gaza for all foreign media”.
Bowen’s remarks come amid the BBC’s ongoing investigation into the making of the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, which was removed from iPlayer after it was discovered that the 13-year-old narrator, Abdullah al-Yazouri, was the son of the deputy minister of agriculture in the Hamas government.
