Journalists Covering Israel-Hamas War Spotlight Challenges, Lack Of Context & Access Issues – Edinburgh

deadline.com:

Journalists covering the Israel-Hamas war have spotlighted the extreme difficulties of covering the conflict in the face of bias and a lack of access, with a leading Palestinian reporter saying he has been shunned by his community simply for doing his job.

Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Yousef Hammash, who has reported from Gaza for the likes of Channel 4, said the international media has “failed” with its bid to inform the public about the Israel-Hamas War since October 7 and give wider context. “We’ve been exposed to one narrative and Israelis the other and that is how the international media failed in informing us,” he said. “They should have looked at it from a broader image.” Hammash spotlighted the challenge he has faced from his own community in reporting from Gaza over the years, saying that he has spent time living in hospitals, living in his car and having to meet his children outside of his own home. “People think they are in danger when I come and film them,” he added of working in Palestine. “We don’t have community acceptance because in the eyes of Gaza we are a legitimate target for the Israelis.

That is why we are living in hospitals.” But rather than controlling the narrative in Gaza, Hammash said Hamas has barely been “on the ground” since the devastating October 7 attack, which saw 1,200 people in Israel killed and around 240 taken hostage.

Since then, the Hamas-run health ministry says 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza. “After October 7 there is no Hamas on the ground, no law in society,” said Hammash. “People in Palestine are wishing people from Hamas dead, which wouldn’t have happened before.