A group of international human rights organizations sent a letter to US President Joe Biden Wednesday calling for the US, one of Israel’s most vocal international allies and supplier of weapons, to facilitate stronger protections for journalists and freedom of the press in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas War.

The letter, signed by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Freedom House, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Human Rights Watch (HRW), Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), called upon Biden to:

• call on both Israel and Hamas to better protect journalists reporting on the conflict in Gaza;
• demand Israel and Egypt give international journalists physical and virtual access to Gaza;
• assess the use of US weapons in Gaza to ensure compliance with international and US law;
• demand Israel allow important journalistic gear such as flack jackets and SIM cards to enter Gaza;
• and support thorough investigations into the deaths of journalists in Gaza since the start of the conflict.

The letter concluded, stating, “The United States should use its considerable influence with the Israeli government to press them to ensure that journalists are able to safely document military operations and to shed light on their compliance with international humanitarian law.”

The letter comes less than a month after a similar letter was sent to Biden from US Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI), Peter Welch (D-VT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) in December. The senator’s letter called for the protection of journalists in Gaza and emphasized the role of journalists in times of conflict. In it, the senators wrote, “Especially in a time of rampant mis- and disinformation, journalists both provide the international community with up-to-date news about the war and equip the local population with potentially life-saving information about fast-changing developments.”

According to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), 103 journalists and members of the media have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war. The CPJ alleged that 82 journalists and members of the media have been killed.

Just days before the letter was sent to Biden, two journalists were killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza, including one from Al Jazeera and from from Agence France-Presse (AFP). This is the second Al Jazeera journalist confirmed to have been killed by an Israeli airstrike, with a photographer being killed in late 2023, leading Al Jazeera to file a war crimes complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC). The UN has also called for an investigation into the death of a Reuters journalist in an airstrike shortly after the outbreak of the conflict.

According to the CPJ, the month after the outbreak of the war was the deadliest for journalists since 1992. Despite this, RSF reported that 2023 had the lowest death toll among journalists while in the line of duty since 2002.

Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the ICC, states that the targeting of civilians is a war crime. Under Article 79 of the Geneva Convention, journalists “engaged in dangerous professional missions” in war zones are seen as civilians, extending the same protections to journalists and civilians local to a conflict zone under the Rome Statute. Israel is not a member of the ICC and has previously denied the court has jurisdiction in Gaza. However, the ICC found in 2021, that Palestine is a state party to the Rome Statute, so the court does have jurisdiction in Gaza. Israel has also previously claimed that it “cannot guarantee” journalists’ safety and that Hamas uses journalism as a “cover for terrorism” in Gaza.