Last week, CPJ warned that current Israeli aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip has become the deadliest time on record for members of the press.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) filed a complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 31 October over “war crimes” committed against Palestinian journalists throughout Israel’s war on Gaza, the rights entity announced on Wednesday.
The complaint brought forth by the RSF included “crimes committed” against both Palestinian and Israeli journalists covering the war. It also called on the Hague “to investigate all of the cases of journalists killed” since the beginning of the escalations on October 7.
The ICC further cited “the deliberate, total or partial, destruction of the premises of more than 50 media outlets in Gaza.”
“The scale, seriousness and recurring nature of international crimes targeting journalists, particularly in Gaza, calls for a priority investigation by the ICC prosecutor. We have been calling for this since 2018. The current tragic events demonstrate the extreme urgency of the need for ICC action,” Christophe Deloire, RSF secretary-general, said in the complaint.
Separate figures by the Committee to Protect Journalists confirmed that 33 journalists and media workers have been killed since the beginning of the war on October 7.
Out of the total figure, 28 Palestinians and one Lebanese journalist were killed by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) – the latter of which in an attack in the south of Lebanon.
However, the RSF complaint details cases of nine journalists killed since the start of the war and two others who were wounded, including eight Palestinians and one Israeli.
However, the RSF complaint does not include Reuters’ Lebanese video journalist Issam Abdallah, who was killed during the IOF cross-border attack. A preliminary RSF probe this week found that Israel had deliberately targeted the slain Reuters journalist and wounded six others at the time.
“Several reporters have been killed or wounded in Lebanon, which – unlike Palestine – is not a State Party to the ICC. RSF is looking into the possibility of referring these cases to other competent jurisdictions,” the non-profit explained.
RSF noted that “the attacks suffered by Palestinian journalists in Gaza correspond to the international humanitarian law definition of an indiscriminate attack and therefore constitute war crimes under Article 8.2.b. of the Rome Statute.”
The Israeli journalist’s death constituted “the wilful killing of a person protected by the Geneva Conventions, which is a war crime under article 8.2.a. of the ICC’s Rome Statute.”
The RSF had filed three previous complaints to the ICC about war crimes against Palestinian journalists, including one in 2018, another in 2021, and the last in 2022. The first was regarding the killing and injuring of journalists during their coverage of the ‘Great March of Return’ protests in Gaza.
The second called for accountability over the Israeli targeting of more than 20 media outlets during its then aggression on Gaza, during which the IOF levelled a tower that hosted international media offices, including Al Jazeera’s bureau.
The third was filed last year following the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was covering an Israeli raid in Jenin at the time. To date, Israel has not been held accountable for its crime, despite numerous investigations that had found the IOF to be the sole perpetrators of the killing.
Censorship of Palestinians
Members of the press have been heavily targeted by Israel since the beginning of its most recent onslaught on Gaza, and many believe this is a strategic move to take control over the narrative in Palestine.
Earlier this week, the IOF killed 19 family members belonging to Al Jazeera’s broadcast engineer during the Jabalia massacre, in which hundreds of Palestinians were killed. Since the start of the war, the IOF has killed at least 9,061 Palestinians, including 3,648 children.
In a statement at the time, the Qatar-based broadcaster condemned the “heinous and indiscriminate” killing of the family members of Mohamed Abu Al-Qumsan, Al Jazeera’s broadcast engineer and described it as an “unforgivable act”.
Just last week, Israel targeted and killed the family of Wael Dahdouh, Al Jazeera Gaza’s bureau chief, in what has been widely slammed as an attempt to further silence the network.
The IOF killed Dahdouh’s wife, son, daughter and infant grandson as they sheltered in a temporary house in the south of Gaza, which Israel had claimed is a safe zone. Dahdouh suggested his family were targeted for his work.
Over the years, Al Jazeera has been subjected to various deliberate attacks by Israel for its detailed and impartial coverage of the violence committed by the IOF against Palestinians, including the latest war on Gaza.
The IOF has killed more than 50 Palestinian journalists since 2000, per figures shared by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.
Last week, CPJ warned that current Israeli aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip has become the deadliest time on record for members of the press.