Several press freedom organisations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the Foreign Press Association in Israel (FPA), the Union of Journalists in Israel (UJI) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), have filed an emergency motion urging Israel’s Supreme Court to allow international media access to Gaza following repeated delays, according to a statement issued on Wednesday.
The statement, released by CPJ, said the motion was submitted on Monday after the court postponed its ruling multiple times over the past 18 months, since the FPA first challenged the ban on foreign journalists entering Gaza.
"The reasons given for these delays are no longer relevant. There are no more hostages in Gaza. There is a longstanding ceasefire in place," the statement said. It added: "There are no substantiated or specific threats against journalists, and journalists pose no threat to Israeli troops. The most recent excuse – the war in Iran – never was relevant."
Since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023 , Israeli authorities have prevented foreign journalists from entering the territory independently. Access has been limited to a small number of reporters allowed in under tightly controlled conditions, embedded with Israeli military forces.
The FPA, which represents hundreds of international journalists working in Israel and the Palestinian territories, filed a petition with the Supreme Court in 2024 seeking immediate and unrestricted access to Gaza for foreign media.
Since then, the court has granted several extensions to Israeli authorities to present a response.
"By consistently accepting the Israeli government numerous requests for extensions on a ruling, the Court is de facto enabling this ban which violates Israel’s commitments to protect journalists’ freedom of expression under Article 19 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)," a CPJ spokesperson told The New Arab .
"The request for the Court to issue a ruling on the case is critical to once again enabling independent media access to Gaza. Journalists must be allowed to operate freely to uphold transparency, protect civilians, and ensure that violations of international law are not hidden from public view."
In January, Israeli authorities argued before the court that the ban on international media should remain in place on security grounds, despite the ceasefire and the ongoing legal challenge.
The CPJ spokesperson also said that, according to the organisation’s findings, Palestinian journalists "are being threatened, directly targeted, and murdered by Israeli forces, and are arbitrarily detained and tortured in retaliation for their work".
They added: "As of April 2026, CPJ's investigations show at least 210 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed by Israel in Gaza since October 2023. CPJ has also documented at least 174 cases of journalists injured and two cases of journalists missing, the majority of whom are Palestinian."
The emergency motion comes amid sustained calls from press freedom and human rights groups urging Israeli authorities to allow independent international reporting in Gaza , where foreign journalists have been barred from entering the enclave for more than two and a half years.
"Palestinian journalists are also reporting under conditions of starvation, displacement, and constant threat to their lives, and their suffering is not collateral damage, it's part of a deliberate tactic to silence the truth," the CPJ spokesperson said.
Anat Saragusti, the Union of Journalists in Israel’s Head of Press Freedom, also voiced support for the Foreign Press Association’s efforts to secure unrestricted media access to Gaza.
Speaking to The New Arab , she said that "it is unprecedented that no foreign press can report from Gaza."
She added: "It is unprecedented that Gaza is closed completely from the eyes of the world and dependent only on Palestinian journalists which are working tirelessly in the most sever conditions, being targeted by fire, subjects to starvation, lack of hygiene conditions, whose families are under sever fear."
Saragusti further noted: "We participated in the hearing at the High Court of Justice and said that since the Israeli press cannot enter Gaza, we have to rely on the foreign press which are a reliable source of information."