UNRWA chief again calls for Israel to lift ban on int’l media entering Gaza
Philippe Lazzarini says the closure of Gaza to international journalists fuels disinformation campaigns questioning the witnesses and humanitarian groups.
“The ban on the entry of international media must be lifted,” the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees wrote on X. Israel has blocked international journalists from being able to access and freely report from Gaza to show the world what is happening in the enclave.
In the meantime, more than 200 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since October 2023.
#Gaza: ⛔️⛔️
The ban on the entry of international media must be lifted.
- 650 days of atrocities against civilians with no international media allowed in.
- Over 200 Palestinian journalists killed.
Media ban fuels dis-information campaigns questioning firsthand data &…
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 18, 2025
Trump admin should not ‘aid and abet’ Gaza ethnic cleansing: US senator
A top Democratic senator has rejected a purported push by Israel to get the Trump administration to help forcibly remove Palestinians from Gaza – a proposal that the US president previously championed but that advocates say would amount to ethnic cleansing.
Earlier today, US news outlet Axios reported that the head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency visited Washington, DC, this week to seek the US government’s assistance with the push.
“A truly outrageous and sickening request from the Netanyahu government,” US Senator Chris Van Hollen wrote on X, commenting on the Axios report.
“The US should not be complicit in or use ANY governmental, American taxpayer resources to aid and abet what amounts to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian civilians from Gaza.”
Trump has previously said he wants the US – which gives Israel at least $3.8bn in military aid annually – to “take over” and “own” Gaza as part of a push to turn the Palestinian enclave into the “Riviera of the Middle East”
