Tzipi Livni and Ehud Barak representing them across media platforms, as the journalists stuck on the border are forced to interview the only sources of information they have access to: the Israelis.

Hamas issue statements as best they can, but with some of the leadership hiding in Damascus, and the bombing of their government buildings and TV station by Israel, a media offensive is difficult at best. This means that Hamas is lacking in the most important currency in international opinion: good PR.

Israel has been unable to prevent the release of photos of dead children in Gaza, which have appalled the world

From Twitter to TV, Israel have dominated the information streams which have such a huge role to play in the resolution of this kind of conflict. Ha'aretz commentators have been far more widely quoted in this conflict than any Palestinian publication, and at best Hamas has managed one article in the Guardian by the leader of their political bureau, Khalid Mish'al.

If any more proof were needed of the absolute necessity of war correspondents, we need only look at those who believe the press shouldn't have a role to play during conflicts. Joe the Plumber, the tradesman used by John McCain as a prop against Barack Obama's tax plans, has weighed in as Pajamas Media's new war correspondent.

His view is that: "Media should be abolished from, uh, you know, reporting. You know, war is hell. And if you're gonna sit there and say, 'Well look at this atrocity' well you don't know the whole story behind it half the time, so I think the media should have no business in it."

That the media's responsiblity is to find the "whole story" is, of course, the point. If unchecked ignorance is allowed to take the place of reporting, the result is that atrocities like the ones Joe so astutely points to get missed.

There is one aspect

in which the Israelis are losing this PR war, despite their best efforts. The photographs of dead children lying in the streets outside overflowing hospitals have appalled the world. The images of screaming mothers and weeping fathers will not be wiped from the public consciousness as easily as Israel would like, especially as the IDF protest they are doing "all they can" to prevent civilian suffering.

We need objectivity and a calm, informed explanation of what is happening in Gaza. Martha Gellhorn put it this way: "The lousier the world, the harder a writer should work."

This situation seems lousier than most, so all we can do is hope that the reporters willing to put their lives on the line can push Israel hard enough to give the people of Gaza a chance to be heard.