Israel faces final deadline to respond to Gaza media access petition The Israeli Supreme Court has decided to set 4 January as the final deadline for Israel to respond to a petition by the Foreign Press Association (FPA) for media access to Gaza. Since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, Israeli authorities have prevented foreign journalists from independently entering the devastated territory. Israel has only allowed a handful of reporters to accompany its troops into the Palestinian territory under Israeli blockade on a case-by-case basis. The FPA in Jerusalem, which represents international media in Israel and the Palestinian territories and has hundreds of members, asked the Israeli justice system more than a year ago to allow immediate access to Gaza. On 23 October, the Court held a first hearing on this request and decided to grant the Israeli authorities one month to develop a plan allowing this access. Since then, the Court has granted several extensions to the Israeli authorities to present their plan, but it set Saturday as the final deadline.