With So Many Stories Remaining Untold, Ban of International Journalists from Gaza Suffocates Truth, Secretary-General Tells Media Seminar on Peace in Middle East
The following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message to the United Nations International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East, in Geneva today:
In the midst of so much pain and agony in the Middle East, I greet you with the most fitting sentiment: Peace, Salam, and Shalom.
The 2024 United Nations International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East is being held under profoundly difficult circumstances. Last month marked one year since the horrific acts of terror perpetrated by Hamas in Israel — and the start of the second year of the ongoing atrocious onslaught in Gaza that is spreading to Lebanon and beyond.
At the same time, the situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, continues to deteriorate with Israeli military operations, construction of settlements, evictions of Palestinians and intensification of settler attacks progressively undermining any possibility of a two-state solution.
Yet so many stories remain untold. Journalists in Gaza have been killed at a level unseen in any conflict in modern times. The ongoing ban preventing international journalists from Gaza suffocates the truth even further. At the same time, several journalists have also been killed or injured covering key stories impacting the occupied West Bank.
This is unacceptable. The voices of journalists must be protected and press freedom must be safeguarded. As we look ahead, the position of the United Nations is clear and unwavering: the war must stop, peace must advance, and the occupation must end.
It is high time for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, with the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, the effective delivery of humanitarian aid and irreversible progress to a two-State solution — Israel and Palestine — living side by side in peace and security, with Jerusalem as the capital of both States. Thank you.