Golubic and Stricker will play their first round on Monday in New York

About sixty media protection groups called on the European Union on Monday to cancel its association agreement with Israel. They denounce attacks on press freedom and the “unprecedented” deaths of journalists in the war in Gaza.

Since the Islamist movement attacked Israeli soil on October 7, the Israeli government has taken a series of measures “to curtail the freedom of the media which has effectively led to the establishment of a system of censorship”, wrote the Committee for People -press protection (CPJ), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), in this letter AFP had a copy.

They are calling on EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis to suspend the association agreement, which deals mainly with trade, and “targeted sanctions against those responsible” for violations are fundamental rights.

Since October 7, more than 100 Palestinian journalists have died in the conflict, as well as two Israeli and three Lebanese journalists, making it “the deadliest period” for the media in decades. Some of the victims may have been “targeted”, alleging the organizations that signed up.

Access to Gaza

The NGOs also recall the de facto ban on foreign journalists going to the Gaza Strip and the “arbitrary arrest” of intelligence professionals, with at least 49 of them in custody.

“The cumulative effect of these abuses creates the conditions for an information vacuum and also leaves room for propaganda and disinformation,” the signatories said.

They want to keep the “freedom” of the media, “protect the lives of journalists” and “send a border”, before the meeting of EU foreign ministers on August 29 in Brussels.

As a result of the attack in Israel by Hamas on October 7, 1,199 people died on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data. Out of 251 people kidnapped that day, 105 are still in Gaza, including 34 who were declared dead by the army.

An Israeli military campaign launched in retaliation left 40,405 dead and 93,468 wounded in the Palestinian territory, according to the health ministry of the Hamas government on Sunday.