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About ten international journalists, including a special correspondent from Radio France, were able to travel to the Gaza Strip, under the supervision of Israeli soldiers.
More than a month after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Gaza looks like a deserted territory. For several hours, Radio France’s special correspondent in Jerusalem, like about ten journalists, was able to access the northern part of the Palestinian enclave, under Israeli army guard. On Wednesday, November 19, they were taken to a military base, very close to the yellow line that for several weeks separated the Hamas-run enclave from territory occupied by the Jewish state.
When taken to the top of the mound, journalists were able to observe the remains of the Shuja’iyya neighborhood, east of Gaza City, below. Dbehind barbed wire,”it’s a devastated, monochrome region that stretches out before your eyes“, explained our reporter.”There is no longer any color in the landscape, among mounds of crumbling cement, old buildings and houses whose dust mixes with the dry ocher soil. No more colors, just gray and brown“, explains Thibault Lefèvre.
“I wouldn’t use the word atomizedcorrected Nadav Hani, one of the Israeli army spokesmen. This is what the battlefield looks like when Western armies fight terrorists.“To him, these ruins are”the price of war” : “It was not us who joined the war, but Hamas“, spat the soldier. However, just behind the yellow line, a few meters away, Hamas is still in power. “Is there another way to do it?he asked. We’re trying something else.“
“There is an agreement that forces Hamas to disarm. If the agreement is successful and Hamas gives up its weapons, that is good for us.”
Nadav Hani, Israeli military spokesmanat franceinfo
Beyond these theoretical limitations, the soldiers opened fire. The problem is that in this pile of rubble the yellow lines are not visible to the naked eye. “We make it more visibleassured Nadav Hani. This situation is complicated. Once the deal was signed, we only had a few hours to retreat. It will take time for those boundaries to become clear.” Before admitting: “At first it wasn’t perfect. There have been several incidents, we are studying and studying these malfunctions“.
When he was asked about “incident” which, in his haste, led to the deaths of Palestinian civilians, he replied: “When the situation changes in the first hours, or even the first days, it is not easy to understand everything. But we are growing and we are moving forward“.
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Other “incident“, as Nadav Choquet said it happened on Wednesday. The Israeli army announced that it had killed several Palestinians. They were going to cross this yellow line, which is obviously impossible to verify. But according to its spokesman, they threatened the army.
Although the Israeli army has agreed to lead ten international media outlets into the Gaza Strip, this remains a highly regulated communications operation. The restrictions were significant: there was no freedom of movement, the designated interlocutors were experienced in the exercise and most importantly, it was impossible to meet and interview Palestinians.
For more than two years, the Israeli army has banned foreign journalists from entering Gaza, preventing the international press from providing reports that meet press freedom concerns.
