LONDON

The BBC, alongside Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press and Reuters, has released a short film urging the Israeli authorities to grant international journalists access to Gaza.

Narrated by veteran BBC journalist David Dimbleby, the film draws on iconic news images to underline the role of independent reporting during pivotal moments in recent history.

Deborah Turness, chief executive of BBC News, said in a statement on Thursday: “As journalists, we record the first draft of history. But in this conflict, reporting is falling solely to a small number of Palestinian journalists, who are paying a terrible cost.

“After two years of conflict, we must be let in. To work alongside local journalists. So we can all bring the facts to the world.”

The film premiered on Wednesday night at an event organized by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), coinciding with the UN General Assembly in New York.

At present, independent international journalists are barred from entering Gaza, leaving coverage of the conflict dependent on local reporters working under extraordinary risk.

The Israeli army has killed more than 65,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. Months of air and ground assaults have left Gaza largely uninhabitable, pushing its population into famine and disease.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the Palestinian enclave.