The High Court of Justice on Sunday gave the state a final extension to respond to a petition by the Foreign Press Association (FPA) demanding unfettered media access to Gaza, and scolded the government for its repeated delays despite a long series of extensions granted by the court.

The FPA filed its petition in 2024, and the state has since been repeatedly granted delays on requests to update its position, first given in June of last year, that it cannot grant press access to Gaza on security grounds.

In his decision, Justice Ofer Grosskopf pointed out that the state had agreed to file a response by November 23 but then requested and received two extensions, which gave it until Sunday to update the court on its position on granting journalists free access to Gaza, in light of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that went into effect on October 10.

“Now the respondents [the state and the defense minister] are requesting another extension, this time of three weeks, and they [may yet] ask for more. It........

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