ICSPR Condemns Israeli War Crimes and Genocide Against Palestinian Journalists and Calls for Their Protection
Date: December 26, 2024
Press Release
ICSPR Condemns Israeli War Crimes and Genocide Against Palestinian Journalists and Calls for Their Protection
The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) strongly condemns the continued deliberate targeting of journalists by Israeli occupation forces, committing war crimes and acts of genocide against them. This is aimed at preventing the coverage, documentation, and exposure of the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing for the fifteenth consecutive month, as well as silencing the voices conveying the suffering of Palestinians.
According to ICSPR’s monitoring, at dawn on Thursday, December 26, Israeli warplanes bombed a vehicle belonging to Al-Quds TV journalists in front of Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat Refugee Camp, central Gaza Strip. This attack led to the martyrdom of five journalists: (Ayman Al-Jidi, Faisal Abu Al-Qumsan, Ibrahim Al-Sheikh Ali, Mohammed Al-Lad’ah, and Fadi Hassouna), raising the total number of journalists killed since the beginning of the aggression on October 7, 2023, to 201 journalist martyrs. This constitutes a new war crime added to the series of Israeli violations against journalists, which amount to war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, representing a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, which provides special protection to journalists. It is also a grave breach under human rights standards and UN resolutions protecting journalists.
ICSPR reiterates its condemnation of these deliberate attacks and crimes by the Israeli occupation against journalists and media institutions. It calls for urgent and immediate action to halt the ongoing genocide and Israeli aggression, which has resulted in the extermination of more than 60,000 martyrs and missing persons, including 201 journalists, the injury of 108,000 people, including 360 journalists, and the arrest of 30 journalists. Furthermore, most media institutions and their equipment have been destroyed, and journalists’ families have been targeted.
ICSPR calls on the United Nations and the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to provide international protection for journalists, prosecute perpetrators of international crimes against them before international courts, and impose boycotts and sanctions on the Israeli occupation state.
ICSPR urges the International Federation of Journalists, media unions and institutions, human rights organizations, and free people around the world to stand in solidarity with Palestinian journalists and escalate pressure on their governments and international and regional organizations to fulfill their moral, legal, and humanitarian responsibilities to protect journalists and provide the necessary support and assistance to them.
End.
International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR)
