Newest grievance by Paris-based press freedom group asks the court docket within the Hague to probe the deaths of seven Palestinian journalists.
Reporters With out Borders (RSF) has filed its second grievance with the Worldwide Legal Courtroom (ICC) for alleged warfare crimes dedicated by the Israeli military in opposition to Palestinian journalists in Gaza.
The most recent grievance by the Paris-based press freedom group filed on Friday asks the court docket within the Hague to analyze the deaths of seven Palestinian journalists killed within the besieged enclave from October 22 to December 15.
The checklist of journalists consists of final week’s killing of Al Jazeera Arabic cameraman, Samer Abudaqa.
“RSF has reasonable grounds to believe that the journalists named in this complaint were the victims of attacks amounting to war crimes,” an announcement issued by the group stated.
“According to the information collected by RSF, these journalists may have been deliberately targeted as journalists. It is for this reason that RSF is describing these deaths as intentional homicides of civilians.”
The RSF filed its first ICC grievance because the warfare started on October 31 over the loss of life of seven different journalists. The group says it has confirmed the deaths of 66 Palestinian journalists since October 7 when the Israeli assault started. Greater than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed since.
The opposite journalists named within the RSF grievance are Asem Al-Barsh, a radio journalist for Al Najah who was killed by sniper hearth, and his colleague Bilal Jadallah of the Palestinian Press Home, who fell sufferer to a direct missile assault on his automotive.
Montaser Al-Sawaf, a cameraman for the Turkish Anadolu Company, and photojournalist Rushdi Al Siraj have been additionally killed in Israeli air raids on their houses.
Hassouna Salim of the Quds Information company was killed by a missile after receiving loss of life threats, and photojournalist Sari Mansour died in the identical assault, based on RSF.
Al Jazeera’s Abudaqa “appears to have been killed by a precision shot fired from a drone”, the RSF stated.
The incident, which the Al Jazeera Media Community has additionally determined to consult with the ICC, came about on December 15, when Abudaqa and Al Jazeera correspondent Wael Dahdouh have been reporting on the bombing of a college used as a shelter for displaced individuals in Khan Younis within the southern Gaza Strip.
Dahdouh – who misplaced his spouse, son, daughter and grandson in a earlier Israeli bombing – was wounded within the assault however managed to achieve a hospital, the place he was handled for minor accidents.
Rescue groups have been unable to right away attain Abudaqa and others on the website as they wanted approval from Israeli forces to bulldoze by way of the particles to get to the placement.
By the point first responders arrived 5 hours later, the journalist had bled to loss of life.
The RSF stated it additionally supported the grievance filed by Al Jazeera Media Community in regards to the deadly capturing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin within the north of the Occupied West Financial institution on Might 11, 2022.
Concentrating on journalists is a warfare crime below Article 8 of the Rome Statute.
“In view of the massacre of journalists in Gaza and the targeting to which they seem to be subjected, we call on ICC prosecutor Karim Khan to clearly state that he is making it a priority to elucidate the crimes committed against journalists in Gaza and to prosecute those responsible,” RSF Secretary-Normal Christophe Deloire stated within the assertion.