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ARD logo on the capital studio building
Photo: Fabian Sommer / dpa
According to the broadcaster, two ARD employees are being prevented from leaving the Gaza Strip by Israel. “The Israeli side has so far blocked the exit from the Gaza Strip for security reasons,” explained the editor-in-chief of Bavarian Radio (BR), Christian Nitsche, on Friday. »That is incomprehensible, because Israeli soil would no longer be entered. These employees are not a security risk. According to ARD, these are two local employees of the studio in Tel Aviv, which is operated by BR, who are employed in the Gaza Strip. ARD has been campaigning for their departure for more than two months.
"We are being targeted by the Israeli army, and I am afraid of Hamas because I work for German television," employee Mohammed Abu Saif, who has been working for ARD for two years, was quoted as saying by the Tagesschau. He was slightly injured in an air raid. He wants to leave the Gaza Strip. And not only does he fear for his life, but also the people around him who don't want to be near him for fear of becoming a target at his side.
According to the article, Israeli authorities did not respond to ARD's inquiries or referred them to other sources. In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office and the Foreign Ministry did not initially respond to inquiries from the Reuters news agency.
For independent reporting from the Gaza Strip, international media rely on local employees, but their work is life-threatening. Journalists are among the tens of thousands of dead since the war between Hamas and Israel began last October. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 83 journalists and media workers have already been killed in the Gaza war.
czl/Reuters