- He said the lack of access for international media was part of Israel's strategy to “hide information about what is happening” because “they don't want us to see it.”
- On Tuesday, Bowen, the BBC's international editor, received an award for outstanding contribution to journalism from the UK's Society of Editors.
DUBAI: BBC international editor Jeremy Bowen has accused Israel of deliberately preventing journalists from entering Gaza in an attempt to “cover up what is happening and sow doubt about the information coming in”.
Bowen was awarded a fellowship for outstanding contribution to journalism at the Society of Editors conference in Britain on Tuesday.
In his acceptance speech, he said: “Why don't they let us into Gaza? Because they don't want us to see it. I think it's really that simple.
“Israel initially came under some criticism for this, but now there is none, especially since it concerns (US President Donald) Trump. So I don't think the situation will change anytime soon.”
He praised Palestinian journalists for the “fantastic work” they do, but said he and other international journalists also want to report from Gaza. He reiterated that the reason Israeli authorities are not allowing international media into Gaza is because “there are things they don’t want us to see.” That’s in stark contrast to the situation early in the conflict, Bowen added.
“Starting with those Hamas attacks on October 7, they (the Israelis) took us to the border communities,” he said. “I was in Kfar Aza when the fighting was still going on. They had just started taking away the bodies of the dead Israelis. Why did they let us in? Because they wanted us to see it.”
Over the past 18 months, Bowen said he had only been allowed to spend half a day with the Israeli army in Gaza. He described the conflict as the “bloodiest war” since “the founding of the Israeli state in 1948.”
He said that “if the site could be opened, people could go through, look at the records, count the graves, exhume the skeletons from the rubble, and then they would get a better idea. But when the doors are closed, these things become very, very difficult.”
It was not the first time Bowen had expressed concern about reporting restrictions. Reporting from Tel Aviv in January 2025, he said: “One of the reasons I’m standing here and not in Gaza is because the Israelis don’t allow international journalists like me to report freely there.”
Last year, he was among 55 international journalists who signed an open letter calling on Israel and Egypt to provide “free and unimpeded access to Gaza for all foreign media.”
They wrote: “We call on the Israeli government to publicly state that it allows international journalists to work in the Gaza Strip, and we also call on the Egyptian authorities to allow international journalists access to the Rafah crossing.
“It is vital that the safety of local journalists is respected and that their efforts are complemented by international media. Comprehensive coverage of the conflict on the ground is imperative.”
