Al Jazeera appeals to global media community to protect journalists in Gaza from 'forced starvation'
New Delhi, Jul 23 (PTI): The Al Jazeera Media Network has called upon the journalistic community, organisations advocating press freedom and legal bodies to take "decisive action" to put an end to the "forced starvation" and crimes against media professionals in Gaza.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, the Doha-based media network said for more than 21 months, the Israeli bombardment and the "systematic starvation" of the nearly 20 lakh people of Gaza have "pushed an entire population to the brink of survival".
"Al Jazeera Media Network urgently calls upon the journalistic community, press freedom organisations, and relevant legal bodies to take decisive action to halt the forced starvation and crimes against journalists and media professionals in Gaza," it said.
The journalists on the ground, who have courageously reported on this ongoing "genocide", have risked their lives and the safety of their families to shed light on these "atrocities", the press release said, adding that "however, they now find themselves fighting for their own survival".
On July 19, Al Jazeera journalists began posting "heart-wrenching" messages on social media, signalling that their capacity to continue was waning, it said.
"One powerful post by Anas AlShariff, Al Jazeera Arabic channel correspondent in Gaza, stated, 'I haven't stopped covering for a moment in 21 months, and today, I say it outright.... And with indescribable pain. I am drowning in hunger, trembling in exhaustion, and resisting the fainting that follows me every moment.... Gaza is dying. And we die with it,'" the release said.
Commenting on the plight of journalists in Gaza, Dr Mostefa Souag, director general of the Al Jazeera Media Network, said, "We owe it to the courageous journalists in Gaza to amplify their voices and put an end to the unbearable suffering they are enduring due to forced starvation and targeted killings by Israeli occupation forces."
"The journalistic community and the world bear an immense responsibility. It is our duty to raise our voices and mobilise all available means to support our colleagues in this noble profession. If we fail to act now, we risk a future where there may be no one left to tell our stories. Our inaction will be recorded in history as a monumental failure to protect our fellow journalists and a betrayal of the principles that every journalist strives to uphold," he added.
Since October 2023, Israeli forces have killed five Al Jazeera journalists -- Samer Abudaqqa, Hamza AlDahdouh, Ismael Al-Ghoul, Ahmed Al-Louh and Hossam Shabat -- and several family members of journalists working for Al Jazeera and other media organisations, the release said.
"Yet, these courageous journalists, along with their colleagues, refuse to succumb to the threats and pressure tactics employed by the Israeli authorities to silence them.
"Submission to such intimidation would have resulted in an almost total blackout of coverage of the ongoing genocide, forced starvation, and crimes against humanity inflicted upon the civilian population of Gaza," it added.
The media network called for immediate action by the international organisations concerned to put an end to this "forced starvation that does not spare journalists who are the bearers of truth".
Al Jazeera Media Network urgently calls upon the journalistic community, press freedom organisations, and relevant legal bodies to take decisive action to halt the forced starvation and crimes against journalists and media professionals in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/7KhLrrKUSU
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) July 23, 2025
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
