BBC makes desperate Gaza plea as journalists 'unable to feed themselves'

Gazan civilians are starving (Image: Getty)

The BBC says the local Palestinian journalists it relies on for news from the Gaza Strip are now at risk of starvation, as they and other news providers demand Israel allow in more food to the area.

Their full statement read: "We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families. For many months, these independent journalists have been the world's eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza. They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering. Journalists endure many deprivations and hardships in warzones. We are deeply alarmed that the threat of starvation is now one of them. We once again urge the Israeli authorities to allow journalists in and out of Gaza. It is essential that adequate food supplies reach the people there."

Gaza aid distrubution (Image: Getty)

The other signatories to the statement are news agencies AFP, AP and Reuters. Israel fiercely denies deliberately creating famine in the territory.

Earlier, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Gaza was suffering man-made mass starvation caused by a blockade on aid.

He spoke following an appeal by more than 100 aid agencies warning of hunger in Gaza while tons of food, clean water and medical supplies sit untouched just outside the territory.

"I don't know what you would call it other than mass starvation, and it's man-made, and that's very clear," Tedros told a virtual press conference live-streamed from Geneva. "This is because of (the) blockade."

Gaza's food stocks have run out since Israel, at war with Palestinian militant group Hamas since October 2023, cut off all supplies to the territory in March and then lifted that blockade in May - but with restrictions that it says are needed to prevent aid from being diverted to militant groups.

As a result, international aid agencies say that only a trickle of what is needed is currently reaching people in Gaza.

Israel says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants. It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's 2.2 million people.