Ottawa urges Israel ensure safety, access for media in Gaza

Canada is again urging Israel to allow foreign journalists to enter the Gaza Strip, and to better protect Palestinian journalists whom Israel has killed at a record rate in the territory.

Last week Ottawa issued a joint statement with multiple European governments, Australia, Chile and Qatar, calling on Israel to also allow Palestinian journalists who want to leave Gaza to do so.

Israel bars foreign journalists from entering Gaza if they aren’t embedded with Israel’s military, a practice that the Committee to Protect Journalists says is unheard of during modern times.

The press-advocacy group says there is a record-setting death rate in this conflict, and it alleges "Israel is engaging in the deadliest and most deliberate effort to kill and silence journalists" that the group has ever documented.

Israel insists it has only intentionally killed media workers who have been helped Hamas, though Canada and others have rejected Israel's claims that journalists like Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif were legitimate targets.

An advocacy group called Canadian Journalists for Justice in Palestine is on Parliament Hill today to urge Ottawa to back independent investigations into these deaths, and allow Gaza journalists to seek refuge in Canada.

Picture Courtesy: AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi