CAIRO: A handful of journalists have been permitted entry into Gaza from Egypt, according to a government offcial.

“Two Italians went in on Wednesday and a German went in on Tuesday,” Mosaad Badawy, a Press Center spokesman based at the Rafah crossing told Daily News Egypt. The press center, working under the State Information Service, is the government body responsible for issuing permits for foreign journalists working in Egypt.

Rumors had been circulating amongst journalist based in Al-Arish, near Rafah, that an NBC television crew had been permitted to enter into Gaza but Badawy did not confirm this.

According to Badawy, the journalists were admitted as part of a human rights delegation.

He added that the journalists who have entered Gaza were required to present letters from their embassies acknowledging that Egypt bears no liability for any potential injury in the conflict zone.

A British journalist told Daily News Egypt that while the United Kingdom does not usually issue such letters in the case of conflict zones, his application was currently under consideration.

Israel’s ban on international journalists from entering Gaza on the pretext of security has been criticized by the world’s leading media organizations including the Associated Press, Reuters, the BBC and the New York Times.