Let Them In: A Public Call to Break the Media Blockade on Gaza - Letter to your MP
This post offers a letter template you can send to your MP, demanding that the UK Government take action. It also includes practical guidance on how to contact your representative. Silence is complicity. Let them in, so we can all bear witness. (Letter template below)
Since October 2023, Gaza has been sealed off from independent foreign journalists. The world watches a war unfold through fragments, controlled footage, escorted tours, and the last remaining voices of Palestinian reporters, many of whom have been killed. At least 248 journalists have died. Over 65,000 civilians have been killed. And still, the cameras are kept out.
Now, the BBC, AFP, AP, and Reuters have joined forces to demand access. Their short film, narrated by David Dimbleby, reminds us that journalists were present at D-Day, Tiananmen, Rwanda, and Ukraine. Gaza must not be the exception.
By Post
Send your letter to:
[MP’s Name]
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
United Kingdom
This is the standard mailing address for all Members of Parliament.
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By Email or Online
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Urgent Parliamentary Action: Demand Foreign Press Access to Gaza
Dear [MP’s Name],
I am writing as a constituent to urge you to take immediate action in Parliament and through diplomatic channels to demand that Israel allow independent foreign journalists unrestricted access to Gaza.
Since the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023 and Israel’s subsequent military offensive, foreign journalists have been barred from entering Gaza independently. Only a handful have been escorted under controlled conditions by Israeli forces. This blockade on press freedom has left Palestinian journalists to bear the full burden of documenting a war that has killed over 65,000 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry - figures cited by the United Nations as the most reliable available.
At least 248 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Israeli attacks. The BBC, AFP, AP, and Reuters have expressed “desperate concern” for those still reporting under siege, facing hunger, displacement, and constant threat. In August, the UK joined 26 other countries in backing a statement calling for immediate foreign media access and condemning attacks on journalists. Yet the blockade remains.
Veteran BBC journalist David Dimbleby recently stated:
“International journalists must now be allowed into Gaza to share the burden with the Palestinian reporters there so we can all bring the facts to the world.”
This is not merely a matter of press freedom, it is a matter of historical record, accountability, and human dignity. Journalists were present at the D-Day landings, the Vietnam War, Tiananmen Square, Rwanda, Syria, and Ukraine. Their presence shaped global memory and mobilised action. Gaza must not be the exception.
I urge you to raise this issue in Parliament, press the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office for a public stance, and demand that the UK Government call on Israel to lift its restrictions on foreign media access to Gaza. The world cannot afford silence. The people of Gaza cannot afford invisibility.
Let them in. So we can all bear witness.
Yours sincerely,
[Your Full Name]
[Your Address]
[Your Postcode]
[Your Email]
[Your Constituency]
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