4,000+ foreign journalists flock to cover Gaza War in Israel after Oct. 7
‘Largest media event’ since nation was founded, GPO says
Since the onset of the Gaza War, triggered by the Hamas invasion and massacre in Israel on Oct. 7, the Government Press Office (GPO) in Israel has undertaken an extraordinary effort to enable press coverage of the conflict.
After six months of fighting, the GPO and the National Public Diplomacy Directorate published some of their statistics, summing up operations as the “largest media event since the founding of the state.”
International media interest in the war has been “unprecedented in its scope,” the GPO said.
So far, over 4,000 journalists have come to Israel to cover the war, with most arriving in October and November 2023. The nations that sent the most correspondents were the U.S., Great Britain, France and Germany, who each sent several hundred.
To ensure journalists had access to critical locations and eyewitnesses of the war's events, the GPO has organized 55 tours for foreign correspondents and broadcasted more than 500 hours of video from the field.
Surprisingly, countries that usually don’t cover events in Israel intensively, such as Romania, Argentina, Nepal, Albania, and Singapore, also sent journalists to cover the war.
“Even Ukraine, which is also at war, has sent correspondents to cover the war in Israel,” the GPO noted.
The GPO also cooperated with the IDF’s Spokesperson’s Unit to conduct nearly 60 tours in the devastated communities of southern Israel, mostly in Kibbutz Kfar Aza and the city of Sderot.
In addition, the GPO organized video screenings to show the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, during which thousands of foreign journalists participated.
The foreign journalists were provided with a range of services during their time in Israel, including briefings from the GPO media centers in Jerusalem and Sderot, weekly tours of the devastated kibbutzim in the Western Negev and timely updates from the agencies involved in Israel’s public diplomacy efforts.
For those who couldn’t travel to Israel, the GPO also provided – and continues to provide – live broadcasts from various events, including press briefings by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his spokespersons, as well as updates from Israel Defense Forces.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
