The message was unmistakable. Recently, the French news agency AFP received a call from one of its freelancers in the isolated and bombed Gaza. Now hunger had reached him too.
»He had lost 30 to 40 kilos in the last three months. The lack of food is real. Famine and hunger have spread significantly in recent months, and it is also affecting the freelancers who work for us. They have to spend much of their time trying to find food for themselves and their families«, says Phil Chetwynd, AFP’s global news director.
AFP’s Palestinian freelancers work under extremely challenging conditions. Not only do they have to take care of their families, they often have to move due to the war. Additionally, there is a struggle to obtain the little food available, and they are exhausted.
»There are days when they can’t work because they wake up and can’t find anything to eat. They have headaches and feel dizzy. They are simply too weak to work. So there are days when they are busy trying to find food for their family. Finding food for their children is more important than taking pictures for us«, says Phil Chetwynd.
The French news agency AFP has around 1,700 journalists in over 150 countries, including freelancers in Gaza who send photos, videos, and texts from the area. Every day, they face the risk of being bombed, displaced, or struck by hunger while reporting on the destruction and deaths for the outside world.
There are various estimates of how many journalists have been killed. But according to the American organization Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 197 journalists and media personnel have lost their lives. At the same time, Israel blocks foreign journalists from entering Gaza to cover the war.
About a month ago, AFP, AP, BBC News, and Reuters warned that their journalists and freelancers inside Gaza were beginning to starve, just like parts of the rest of the population. The media outlets issued a joint appeal to Israel to allow journalists to enter and leave the Gaza Strip and ensure that sufficient amounts of food reach the starving population.
As Phil Chetwynd sums up the situation:
»It’s becoming more and more extreme«.
Fears of attacks
AFP’s global news director has agreed to discuss the extraordinarily difficult working conditions for journalists and other media personnel in Gaza. Phil Chetwynd emphasizes that it is also challenging for them to move around Gaza. Although the area is not very large, there are few transportation options, and there is a shortage of fuel.
»We actually have an armored vehicle in Gaza, but it would be too dangerous to drive around in it. It could become a target. Instead, people walk, and sometimes a journalist can end up walking 20-25 kilometers a day to cover a story. At the same time, it’s extremely hot, and it’s hard to get water. So the physical demands of doing their job are extremely tough«, he highlights.
And then there is the fear. The fear of many attacks and killings of journalists by the Israeli military.
»The Committee to Protect Journalists has identified between 20 and 25 cases where there is doubt about whether journalists were intentionally targeted. This weighs on the journalists working in Gaza. If you are worried every day that you might be killed, it’s an enormous burden to carry«, says Phil Chetwynd.
Before the war, the news agency had an office with nine permanent employees in Gaza, and they all got out safely, but many of their family members were not so fortunate.
According to Phil Chetwynd, it is estimated that »they have lost around 50 to 60 relatives, and in several cases even close family members«.
Had to flee
Before the war, AFP’s nine employees reported from an office in Gaza City. But just days after Hamas’ bloody terror attack on October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 Israelis and took 251 as hostages, AFP had to abandon the office.
This was due to the Israeli military launching a massive offensive in the area in response, which has since killed over 60,000 Palestinians according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health authorities.
»During previous conflicts, there was always a flow of foreign journalists to Gaza, so we always had journalists from Jerusalem or journalists from other countries in our network working with our team in Gaza. But this time it wasn’t possible«, says Phil Chetwynd.
He notes that the Israeli army isolated Gaza at the beginning of the military offensive:
»So our team in Gaza was on their own, and when the Israelis shortly after declared the area around Gaza City a war zone and told everyone to leave, our staff left the office, leaving a live camera hanging from the roof«.
After that, the permanent employees reported from various locations in Gaza about the war for nearly seven months. It was a tough time.
»They worked every single day during those months while they moved from place to place with their families because nowhere was safe. So after a while, we started working to get them out of Gaza. They had lost family members and friends and couldn’t take it anymore«, reports Phil Chetwynd.
The permanent employees got out of Gaza and established a base in Cairo, Egypt, where they now help coordinate stories from Gaza. But before leaving the war-torn area, they established a network of freelancers in Gaza:
»Some were freelancers who had worked for us before in Gaza and whom we knew well, and others were colleagues we trust. We spent about a month or two assembling this team of trusted freelancers before evacuating our employees«.
This familiarity with the freelancers is crucial, as there are constant rumors and claims about what’s happening in the closed-off Gaza, which are difficult for the media to verify.
At the same time, the evacuated Palestinian journalists from AFP continue to gather information from Gaza and verify it. Both via the network of freelancers and through their own sources in Gaza.
»They have lived their entire lives in Gaza, so they have many sources they can call. Therefore, they still gather information and news, even though it’s happening from abroad«, says Phil Chetwynd.
The daily stream of photos, videos, and texts comes out of Gaza to AFP’s office in Jerusalem. But it’s not easy for the freelancers inside Gaza.
»We can’t guarantee their safety because we don’t have any access to Gaza. So we give them a lot of leeway, and we make a big effort to tell them that they don’t need to cover everything«, he says.
But it can be hard to stop them:
»Every day we have discussions with them. Often it’s about trying to get them to avoid going to dangerous areas. It can be difficult because for them it’s about the story, and they want to be present. But it can be incredibly dangerous, so we spend a lot of time telling them that safety comes first«.
Hamas and journalists
The latest violent attack occurred recently, where at least 20 people were killed at a hospital in southern Gaza, including five local journalists.
According to The Guardian, journalists from Reuters, Associated Press, and Al Jazeera were among the dead, and the attack sparked international condemnation. Since then, Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has expressed regret over the deaths as a »tragic accident« that will now be investigated.
But three weeks ago, prominent Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif was among the journalists killed in an attack in Gaza City. This triggered a heated debate over whether Anas al-Sharif had ties to Hamas and whether the Palestinian journalists working in Gaza during the war are credible representatives.
Israel’s military (IDF) presented a list that the military claimed was documentation that Anas al-Sharif was the leader of a Hamas terror cell. Simultaneously, messages surfaced on social media from the Telegram service where Anas al-Sharif allegedly expressed sympathy for Hamas’ attacks in Israel in 2023.
According to the independent Israeli-Palestinian media outlet +972, the Israeli military has a special unit dedicated to discrediting journalists in Gaza by labeling them as Hamas fighters. Three weeks ago, the UN emphasized that »attacks on journalists are attacks on fundamental freedoms«.
The response from the Israeli Foreign Ministry was that »we agree – journalists are not a target«:
»But jihadist terrorists with cameras are not journalists. They are terrorists. We will hunt the jihadists, not protect their cover«.
Phil Chetwynd believes there is a campaign against Palestinian journalists.
»There is a very aggressive attempt to discredit Palestinian journalists, and this also includes journalists working for us. This happens by trying to find connections between them and people in Hamas. It’s something we’ve seen from the very beginning. Sometimes it’s rumors that we’ve been able to debunk, and other times it’s hard to figure out«, says AFP’s news director, adding:
»If allegations are made about journalists collaborating with Hamas, Israel should allow independent investigators to look into it«.
He believes the world should remember that Hamas has »ruled the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades«:
»So any journalist who has worked in the area has had numerous contacts with Hamas. They have attended press conferences with people from Hamas, so it’s very easy today to look back and say: »Oh, here’s a picture of this journalist with this member of Hamas«.
He believes it’s an unpleasant but also successful campaign:
»You don’t need to convince people. You just need to sow doubt, because it makes people around the world hesitate and say, »Well, is there a problem?« This doubt unfairly undermines the work of Palestinian journalists.«
Phil Chetwynd argues that it’s crucial for Israel to allow foreign journalists back into Gaza so they can report on what’s happening. He has had several meetings with top Israeli officials, but there has been no progress so far.
»I don’t see the Israelis changing course. The official reason is that it’s too dangerous, and they want to protect us. But that doesn’t hold. The Palestinians and Israelis working for me are all just people and journalists too, and we want to work in the same way as before, where foreign journalists can also cover the war. It’s extremely frustrating«, he says.
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