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An organisation representing international media in Israel and the Palestinian territories expressed disappointment Thursday after Israel’s top court postponed its hearing on granting journalists independent access to Gaza.

Since the Gaza war began in October 2023, Israeli authorities have prevented foreign journalists from entering the devastated territory, taking only a handful of reporters inside on tightly controlled visits alongside its troops.

The Foreign Press Association, which represents hundreds of foreign journalists, had filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking access for international journalists to Gaza.

The court held its first hearing on Thursday, and the State Attorney acknowledged ‘the situation has changed’ since the Gaza ceasefire and requested a further 30 days to examine the circumstances.

No date has been set for the next hearing.

‘The Foreign Press Association is disappointed in the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to grant the State of Israel yet another delay regarding the independent entry of journalists into Gaza,’ the FPA said in a statement after the hearing.

Recognising that the court had directed the government to present a clear position within 30 days, the FPA said it hoped that ‘the court will stand firmly against further delays by the state’.

‘The state today once again relied on stalling tactics to prevent the entry of journalists,’ the statement said.

The FPA said the Israeli government had sought to delay the entry of journalists into Gaza repeatedly, halting them from ‘carrying out their journalistic duties and hindering the public’s right to information.’

‘The government’s position remains unacceptable. We renew our call for immediate access to Gaza,’ it added.

Ahead of the hearing, FPA chairperson Tania Kraemer said: ‘We’ve been waiting really long for this day.’

‘We are saying that we hope to get into Gaza, that they open Gaza after this long blockade, and we are hoping to get in there to work alongside our Palestinian colleagues,’ she added.

The FPA began petitioning for independent access to Gaza soon after the war broke out following Hamas’s attack on Israel.

But these demands have been repeatedly ignored by Israeli authorities.

An AFP journalist sits on the FPA’s board of directors.

‘We have a right to inform the public, the people of the world, the Israeli public, the Palestinian population,’ Nicolas Rouget, an FPA board member, said outside the courtroom ahead of the hearing.

‘We feel we must stand by them, by our Palestinian colleagues in Gaza, who have been the only ones able to inform the public about this conflict over the last two years,’ he added.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders has joined the petition filed by the FPA.

While Israel has prevented foreign reporters from entering Gaza, its forces have killed more than 210 Palestinian journalists in the territory, Antoine Bernard, RSF’s director for advocacy and assistance, said on Tuesday.

‘The result is an unprecedented violation of press freedom and the public’s right to reliable, independent, and pluralistic media reporting,’ Bernard said.

‘The Supreme Court has the opportunity to finally uphold basic democratic principles in the face of widespread propaganda, disinformation and censorship, and to end two years of meticulous and unrestrained destruction of journalism in and about Gaza.

‘No excuse, no restriction can justify not opening Gaza to international, Israeli and Palestinian media,’ he said.

On October 10, a US-backed ceasefire took effect and Israel started pulling back troops from some areas of Gaza.