Netanyahu promises foreign journalists more access to Gaza Strip

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has ordered the army to allow more foreign journalists access to the Gaza Strip.

They need to see Israeli efforts to allow humanitarian aid for the population of Gaza into the coastal strip, Netanyahu told journalists in Jerusalem on Sunday.

“There is a problem with ensuring security, but I think it can be done in a careful and responsible way,” he also said. “You will see Gaza residents fighting against Hamas,” he told journalists. There will also be a lot of destruction.

However, he did not blame the Israeli army for this, but Hamas, whose fighters he said had “prepared almost every building with booby traps.” The army had deliberately detonated many of them using old army vehicles, Netanyahu asserted.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in spring that around 70% of the buildings in the Gaza Strip had been destroyed or severely damaged.

The destruction and damage was particularly extensive in Gaza City, Khan Younis and parts of Rafah, at over 80% to 90%.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war, foreign journalists have only been able to visit the Gaza Strip if they were “embedded” with the Israeli army. They have only ever been able to see certain sections of it.

It was initially unclear whether Netanyahu’s instruction signalled a real change in this practice.

The Foreign Press Association (FPA) in Israel and the Palestinian territories said the military and the prime minister’s office were to contacted to request more details.