To mark one year since the Simchat Torah holiday massacre on 7 October 2023 and the outbreak of the Swords of Iron War, the Israel Government Press Office (GPO) has summarized its activity and the full numbers.

Global media coverage of the events has been unprecedented in scope. In the past year, the GPO has issued 5,530 GPO cards to correspondents, photographers and media personnel from around the world who came to Israel to cover the war, which has turned it into the most covered event since the state was founded.

GPO Director Nitzan Chen stated, "The leading countries in sending journalists to cover the war are the US, the UK, France and Germany, which together constitute almost 60% of the journalists. The leading media outlets, in the number of GPO cards, are the BBC (425 cards), NBC (207 cards), CNN (196 cards), CBS (183 cards), RAI (162 cards), Sky (149 cards) and Reuters (130 cards). There were also countries that cover Israel less frequently, such as Romania, Ukraine, Argentina, Nepal and Singapore, that have sent journalists to Israel since the start of the war."

Following are the data for journalists who came to Israel:

US – 1,221 (22%),

UK – 985 (18%),

France – 647 (12%),

Germany – 314 (6%),

Turkey – 278 (5%),

Japan – 255 (4%),

Italy – 253 (4.5%),

Spain – 191 (3,5%),

Canada – 122 (2%),

Switzerland – 101, Sweden – 97, Norway – 90, Greece – 85, Netherlands – 74, India – 63, Denmark – 62, Poland – 50, Belgium – 38, Romania – 36, Argentina – 36, Portugal – 24, Mexico – 22, Azerbaijan – 15, Slovakia – 14, Uruguay – 9, Albania – 8, Nepal – 8, New Zealand – 8, Georgia – 7, Ukraine – 2, Ghana – 1, Singapore – 1, Nigeria – 1, Armenia – 1 and Senegal – 1.

Via the GPO, the National Public Diplomacy Directorate, starting the first week of the war, held almost 100 tours, events, and screenings of the 'atrocities' film in cooperation with the IDF Spokesperson. Thousands of foreign journalists participated in the tours, which were mainly to Sderot and the kibbutzim of Kfar Aza, Be'eri, Nir Oz, Netiv Ha'asara and the festival site in Re'im.

As soon as they were received in Israel and until they left the country, the GPO provided the many journalists with a variety of services including briefings at the GPO media centers in Jerusalem and Sderot, weekly tours to the kibbutzim in the Western Negev and timely updates from our partners in the public diplomacy efforts, including the National Public Diplomacy Directorate, the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the IDF Spokesperson.