ICSPR: Israel’s Deliberate Targeting of Journalists, Doctors, and Civil Defense Teams at Nasser Medical Complex is a Full-Fledged War Crime
Date: August 25, 2025
Press Release
ICSPR: Israel’s Deliberate Targeting of Journalists, Doctors, and Civil Defense Teams at Nasser Medical Complex is a Full-Fledged War Crime
The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) strongly condemns the horrific crime committed by the Israeli occupation forces on Monday evening, targeting the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip. The attack resulted in the killing of 15 civilians and the injury of dozens more, including four journalists:
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Mohammed Salama (Al Jazeera cameraman),
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Hossam Al-Masri (Reuters photographer),
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Maryam Abu Daqa (photojournalist),
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Muath Abu Taha (journalist),
in addition to Abdullah Al-Shaer, a paramedic officer in the Palestinian Civil Defense. Several other journalists, medical staff, and civil defense teams were also injured while carrying out their humanitarian duties. With this crime, the number of journalists killed rises to 244, alongside 138 civil defense members and more than 1,590 medical staff.
Documented footage showed that the upper floor and the reception building of the complex were struck twice in succession: the first with direct shelling, and the second as medical and civil defense teams arrived to evacuate the wounded and rescue victims. This proves the occupation’s deliberate and systematic targeting of journalists, doctors, and paramedics.
The targeting of Nasser Medical Complex and other health facilities in the Gaza Strip reflects a systematic Israeli policy to destroy the entire healthcare system, through repeated bombardment of hospitals, their forced evacuation, and disruption of services. This has deprived hundreds of thousands of civilians of their right to medical treatment and care. ICSPR stresses that this deliberate destruction aims to forcibly displace civilians from Gaza City and Khan Yunis, as part of a mass expulsion plan that amounts to ethnic cleansing, prohibited under international law.
ICSPR affirms that this crime is part of Israel’s policy of genocide, starvation, and systematic destruction since the beginning of its aggression. Hospitals, medical personnel, and media workers have become direct targets, in blatant violation of international humanitarian law, the four Geneva Conventions of 1949, and relevant UN Security Council resolutions obligating all parties to respect and protect civilians, medical workers, humanitarian actors, and journalists.
The targeting of journalists who convey the truth, and of doctors and paramedics performing their humanitarian duty, constitutes both a war crime and a crime against humanity, requiring accountability and prosecution to prevent Israeli leaders from escaping punishment.
Accordingly, ICSPR:
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Confirms that the deliberate targeting of journalists, medical staff, and civil defense teams is part of a systematic policy aimed at exterminating Palestinians, silencing the truth, and terrorizing civilians, reflecting the colonial and racist nature of the occupation.
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Calls on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to immediately open a prompt and effective investigation into this crime and all crimes committed against civilians in the Gaza Strip, and to accelerate accountability processes, including issuing arrest warrants against perpetrators of international crimes.
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Urges the international community and High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions, particularly third states, to take concrete steps to impose deterrent sanctions on Israel and halt arms supplies, in order to stop its systematic crimes and provide international protection for Palestinians.
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Renews the call for the formation of an urgent international coalition to provide international protection for the Palestinian people, dispatching UN, medical, and journalistic teams to monitor, document, and convey the facts to the world, while protecting hospitals, humanitarian workers, and ensuring the delivery of aid.
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Calls on the International Federation of Journalists and other global journalistic and medical unions and associations to take urgent action in solidarity with their peers in Gaza, to push for sanctions on Israel, and to pursue accountability of Israeli leaders before national and international courts.
The continued silence and inaction of the international community in the face of these heinous crimes only embolden Israel to pursue its criminal agenda and make humanity at large complicit. This necessitates urgent action before it is too late.
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The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR)
