User:AllOtherNamesWereTaken/sandbox

Hamas and Media Censorship

Journalists operating in Gaza have been harrassed. These included cases involving photographers who had taken pictures of Hamas operatives in compromising circumstances — gunmen preparing to shoot rockets from within civilian structures, and/or fighting in civilian clothing — and who were then approached by Hamas men, bullied and had their equipment taken away.

French reporter was initially reported by the journalist involved, but the account was subsequently removed from the Internet.

The Wall Street Journal‘s Middle East correspondent, Nick Casey, wrote on Twitter that Hamas uses Shifa “as a safe place to see media,” but removed the post afterwards.

Correspondent for the local Ouest France daily newspaper told Libération, another French daily, about how he was interrogated and intimidated by Hamas officials in what appeared to be their office in Shifa. “A few meters from the emergency room, where the injured from the bombings kept on coming in, in the outpatient ward, [the reporter] was received in ‘a small section of the hospital used as an office’ by a group of young combatants,’” the article read. “Surprisingly, they were all well-dressed, ‘in civilian clothing, with a gun under the shirt, and some had walkie-talkies.’” He was ordered to empty his pockets, to remove his shoes and belt, then was taken to a hospital room that appeared to serve the men as their command office, the reporter recalled. The journalist, who has family living in Gaza, was then interrogated by one of the Hamas men. “Who are you? What’s your name? What are you doing?” The Hamas fighter also asked the journalist whether he spoke Hebrew or had any ties to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. “The young Hamas supporters insistently ask the question: ‘Are you a correspondent for Israel?’” he recalled in the article. The reporter asserted that he works for French and Algerian media only, but was eventually told to leave Gaza and stop working. The article was later removed from Libération’s website. The site says this was done at the request of the reporter, whom it names.

http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/Gaza-reporters-tweets-Hamas-using-human-shields-368689