They have documented flattened cities, filmed the screams of the wounded, and reported even after burying their own family members. But today, Gaza’s remaining journalists—the only independent eyes and ears in the strip—are starving.
Freelancers working for the BBC, ABC, AFP, Reuters, and AP are going days without food. Some can no longer hold cameras. Others are too weak to speak. This slow and deliberate starvation is not just a humanitarian catastrophe—it is an information siege. As global newsrooms depend on these journalists for coverage of the war, Israel is accused of starving them into silence.
“I used to work from 07:00 until 22:00, but now I can barely do one story. I just feel dizzy,” said one BBC freelancer based in southern Gaza, who has lost the strength to report. He collapsed during filming recently—but resumed work anyway.
With Israel barring foreign journalists from entering Gaza since the war began on 7 October 2023, Palestinian freelancers have become indispensable. But they are now at breaking point. And their inability to function threatens to bury the story of Gaza along with them.
“This is Like a Suspended Death Sentence”
The BBC, in a report published on 24 July 2025, revealed harrowing testimonies from three of its Palestinian freelancers. They are starving, displaced, and grieving loved ones—all while trying to report.
“My son who has autism is unaware of what is going on around him. He doesn’t know that we are in a war and he doesn’t speak,” said one cameraman in Gaza City. “In recent days, he’s so hungry that he’s started hitting his stomach with his hand to signal to us that he wants food.”
Another journalist is the main breadwinner for his family and siblings. “My little sister, who’s 13, keeps on asking for food and water and we can’t get any for her. Any water we find will be contaminated.”
Markets are empty. Food—when available—is sold at extortionate prices. A single 50g biscuit costs 30 shekels ($9). With banks closed, freelancers must use informal money traders who skim 45% from transfers. A $1,000 remittance yields just $550.
“The difficulty is because of the closure of the banks. These money transfers are another form of suffering after our hunger,” said one freelancer. “Vendors demand cash. Even getting it is exhausting.”
Most journalists now rely on overstretched charity kitchens. “My kids eat one meal a day—just lentils, rice or pasta,” said the Gaza City cameraman. Others drink salt water to suppress their hunger.
“I feel tired and exhausted all the time, to the point of dizziness and falling to the ground,” said another freelancer, who cares for his elderly mother, sisters, and five children. “Delirium and fatigue accompany me.”
“This is like a suspended death sentence,” said one journalist. “Hunger has reached every home.”
Global Media Rings the Alarm
Some of the world’s largest media organisations—BBC News, AFP, AP, and Reuters—issued a rare joint statement on 23 July 2025, warning:
“We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families.”
They added:
“For many months, these independent journalists have been the world’s eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza. They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering.”
“Journalists endure many deprivations and hardships in war zones. We are deeply alarmed that the threat of starvation is now one of them. We once again urge the Israeli authorities to allow journalists in and out of Gaza. It is essential that adequate food supplies reach the people there.”
The agencies have repeatedly pleaded with Israeli authorities to allow journalists freer movement in and out of Gaza, but those requests have grown increasingly desperate as the physical condition of media workers deteriorates.
ABC’s Warning: “Our Colleagues Are Wasting Away”
Australia’s national broadcaster has also sounded the alarm. On 25 July 2025, ABC Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran reported that the network’s Palestinian contributors are starving.
“One colleague does not have the strength to hold a camera any more,” Doran wrote. “He has lost 34kg and can hardly talk on the phone.”
“And it could seriously impact how we can tell the broader story of the Gaza war.”
ABC News aired several segments throughout the week on its 7pm bulletin about mass starvation in Gaza. A spokesperson told Guardian Australia:
“The ABC has worked with a variety of independent journalists in Gaza over the past two years, but in recent weeks that has become increasingly difficult as displacement and starvation make it harder for journalists in Gaza.”
Doran stressed that critical scenes now broadcast globally—crowds scrambling for aid, malnourished children in hospitals, Palestinians protesting Hamas—would be impossible to capture without local freelancers.
“One of the biggest and most important stories in the world … will soon be more difficult to tell, as our colleagues struggle to help us tell it.”
AFP: “The Last Reporters in Gaza Will Die”
The news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) has asked Israel to allow the immediate evacuation of its freelance contributors and their families from Gaza. The plea followed reports that freelancers can no longer work due to illness and starvation.
“Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die,” warned the Society of Journalists at AFP. “We have lost journalists in conflicts: some have been injured; others taken prisoner. But none of us can ever remember seeing colleagues die of hunger.”
One AFP photographer wrote on social media:
“I no longer have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin and I can’t work any more.”
The desperation extends beyond AFP. BBC journalists have lost homes and loved ones. One was seriously wounded by shrapnel from an Israeli strike while on assignment. Still, they continued sending footage—until they no longer could.
Information Siege: Starvation as a Weapon
According to the World Health Organization, Gaza is facing man-made mass starvation. Humanitarian organisations say that even aid workers are now visibly starving. “We are witnessing our own colleagues waste away before our eyes,” warned a coalition of over 100 NGOs this week.
While Israel denies responsibility, it controls all entry points for food and aid. The “drip-feeding” of aid has been widely condemned. On Wednesday, 28 countries—including the UK—called on Israel to comply with international humanitarian law and end the siege.
But the tactic appears deliberate. By starving those reporting on the war, Israel is not only punishing civilians—it is severing the world’s access to their suffering.
The Price of Bearing Witness
Palestinian journalists in Gaza have paid an unfathomable price. Nearly 200 have been killed—many in targeted strikes on press-marked vehicles, homes, and media towers. But this slow siege by starvation is a new method of censorship: less visible, just as lethal.
“If I don’t eat, I can’t report,” said one freelancer.
That is the reality now facing Gaza’s remaining journalists. With each day of hunger, the world edges closer to a media blackout—not because stories have stopped, but because the storytellers can no longer speak.
If the last journalist starves, what happens to the truth?
In Gaza, the war against the press is no longer just about bullets and bombs. It’s about bread. And without urgent international intervention, the world may soon lose its last line of sight into one of the most devastating conflicts of our time.
