Abdullah Abu Shawesh who is the Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Nigeria, has lashed out at the Israeli government over the alleged killing of 135 journalists who were reporting the war in Gaza.
The Palestinian envoy stated on World Press Freedom Day, stating that 100 people had been detained, 45 under administrative detention, 4 were missing, and several were killed.
He commended the Nigerian media on the occasion, even as he described Palestinian journalists covering what he called “genocide of the Israeli occupation army” in Palestinian territories as courageous.
He added that UNESCO had awarded the Palestine correspondents covering the war in Gaza the 2024 UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize for their brave and courageous work.
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Meanwhile, as the Gaza crisis deepens, Antony Blinken, the US’s top diplomat, has issued a passionate plea to Hamas to accept a ceasefire plan, but Israel has served notice that it will continue its military campaign against the militant group, ceasefire or no ceasefire.
Mediators have engineered a potential peace gambit, proposing a 40-day truce that would pause the fighting, accompanied by a prisoner swap that would liberate dozens of hostages in exchange for a substantially larger number of Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas has signaled its intention to swiftly respond to the proposal, promising a reply “within a very short period” – a move that could potentially pave the way for a breakthrough in the stalled peace process.
“Hamas needs to say yes and needs to get this done,” Blinken said Wednesday while in Israel on his seventh Middle East crisis tour since the war broke out in October.
He later added: “If Hamas actually purports to care about the Palestinian people and wants to see an immediate alleviation of their suffering, it should take this deal.”
After bearing witness to the devastation at Nir Oz kibbutz, hit by Hamas on October 7, and inspecting Israel’s Kerem Shalom border crossing and Ashdod port – soon to be lifelines for aid delivery – Blinken addressed the press, his voice infused with the urgency of the moment.
Hamas has issued a tentative rejection of the truce proposal, according to senior official Osama Hamdan, who spoke to the press on Wednesday. However, the door remains open for further talks.