Türkiye's Communications Directorate holds discussion on media coverage of genocide in Gaza

- Anadolu remains committed to pursuing only the truth and reflecting it as accurately as possible, Ozhan says

- Scottish politician Tasmina Ahmed Sheikh says, Israel should also face sanctions and embargoes like other countries have over law violations

- Paul Williams of Blogging Theology warned against 'the weaponization of the Old Testament' to legitimize genocide

Media experts and prominent figures discussed the coverage of the genocide in Gaza and the international reaction against Israel at a panel organized by Türkiye's Communications Directorate in Ankara on Wednesday.

The panel, Gaza: The Litmus Test of Humanity, included Yusuf Ozhan, deputy director-general and editor-in-chief of Anadolu, Tasmina Ahmed Sheikh, a Scottish politician and lawyer; Paul Williams, founder and director of the Blogging Theology platform; and Paula Gil Leyva, the head of Doctors Without Borders Spain.

Ozhan said Anadolu has a strong network of reporters in Gaza and conveys developments to the world in their stark reality.

Highlighting the important role journalists play in uncovering the truth and documenting the people’s suffering, he said the Israeli military deliberately targets members of the press for this very reason.

Ozhan said two Anadolu journalists had been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza, underlining that those still working courageously in the war-torn enclave are the eyes and ears of the world.

He added that while Israel uses starvation as a weapon and runs an intense propaganda campaign, the Turkish news agency remains committed to pursuing only the truth and reflecting it as accurately as possible.

Touching on Anadolu's efforts to record events that could serve as evidence of genocide, Ozhan said the agency compiled The Evidence, a photobook documenting the Israeli crimes.

Ozhan also highlighted that Anadolu was the first to reveal Israel's use of white phosphorus in Gaza. He said Anadolu reporters have been documenting evidence of what is happening on the ground, including recent photographs showing famine in Gaza, which made international headlines and had a strong impact on public opinion.

The editor-in-chief expressed hope that Palestine and the people of Gaza would prevail and that peace would come to the region.

- All hospitals in Gaza destroyed or severely damaged

Levya, the head of MSF Spain, spoke about her visit to Gaza in December 2024, saying the bombing and destruction she witnessed there was unlike anything she had seen before.

She said her team worked at the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, which was overcrowded and overwhelmed.

Leyva said many of the wounded in Gaza hospitals come from distribution points of the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and medical supplies remain severely limited.

Noting that all hospitals in Gaza have either been completely or partially destroyed, she said the genocide Israel has been committing is advancing faster than it appears. She also urged not to forget the occupied West Bank, where attacks by Israeli forces and settlers have increased since the war in Gaza in October 2023.

Sheikh, the Scottish politician and lawyer, referred to Tuesday's report prepared by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which confirmed Israel was committing a genocide in Gaza.

Sheikh said political will can change the situation in Gaza, adding that the world is seeing a biased stance and double standards. The world is watching that Muslim lives do not count, she said.

She said Israel should also face sanctions and embargoes like other countries have over law violations.

Giving reference to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's famous phrase, "the world is bigger than five," Sheikh underlined the importance of UN reform.

Williams, the founder of Blogging Theology, said the weaponization of the Old Testament is "a real problem" in Israel. He emphasized the need to discuss how theology is being weaponized and distorted to legitimize genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the dispossession of Palestinians in the West Bank.

Emphasizing that the world is undergoing a fundamental change, he urged all believers around the world to come together to form alliances and "look beyond the lies we have been told about the old Western order that has now lost its credibility."