By The newspaper
02 Nov 2023, 01:50 AM EDT
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has filed a war crimes complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in relation to crimes against journalists who were killed or injured while reporting during the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
This war crimes complaint marks the third such filing by RSF since 2018. The complaint provides details of nine cases in which journalists were killed and two others injured while carrying out their vital work in Gaza and Israel, all in the span of just a few weeks starting October 7.
“The magnitude, severity and recurring nature of international crimes against journalists, especially in Gaza, demand a priority investigation by the ICC prosecutor,” stressed RSF Secretary General Christophe Deloire.
“We have been calling for this since 2018. The current tragic events demonstrate the extreme urgency of the need for the ICC to act,” he added.
Crimes against journalists in Gaza and Israel
The war crimes complaint highlights serious violations against journalists, including the deaths of eight Palestinian journalists in the Israeli bombing of Gaza and the murder of an Israeli journalist while covering a Hamas attack on his kibbutz.
It maintains that the death of the Israeli journalist amounted to the “intentional murder of a person protected by the Geneva Conventions,” which constitutes a war crime, according to the Rome Statute of the ICC.
The complaint also condemns the attacks on Palestinian journalists in Gaza as indiscriminate, aligning with the definition of indiscriminate attack in international humanitarian law, thus categorizing them as war crimes.
Murder of the family of journalist Wael Al-Dahdouh
The tragedy of this conflict goes beyond the simple victims of journalists. An Israeli airstrike on October 25 led to the loss of the family of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, Wael Al-Dahdouh.
Al Jazeera reported that “the indiscriminate attack by the Israeli occupation forces resulted in the tragic loss of Dahdouh’s wife, son and daughter, while the rest of his family is buried under the rubble.”
The ICC complaint also highlights the “deliberate total or partial destruction of the facilities of more than 50 media outlets in Gaza.” RSF urges the ICC to thoroughly investigate all these cases of journalists killed since October 7 while covering the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The RSF statement also makes a fervent call for Israel to cease the bombing of Gaza. They urge the Israeli government to recognize the consequences of its actions and end the cycle of violence.
RSF states: “The State of Israel will have to take responsibility before history for the deaths of journalists on a scale unknown in the 21st century. “We call on the Israeli authorities to end the bombings, which constitute war crimes.”
The war crimes complaint filed by Reporters Without Borders highlights the fundamental role that journalists play in reporting the truth during conflicts and the need to protect their safety.
The ICC’s response and the implications of this complaint will be closely watched as the world grapples with the tragic events of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Keep reading:
· Al Jazeera journalist learns that his family was murdered while broadcasting live
· Five scenarios for the future of the Gaza Strip after the conflict
· Nearly 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists trained for October 7 attack last month: report