By Doug Cunningham
Reporters Without Borders filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court alleging war crimes against journalists covering the Israel-Hamas conflict. People view an installation called "Empty Beds" symbolizing the 230 empty beds of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Photo by Debbie Hill/ UPI | License Photo
Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Reporters Without Borders filed a war crimes complaint with the International Criminal Court for crimes they said were committed against journalists who were killed and injured while working amid Israel's war with Hamas.
The war crimes complaint, the third since 2018, details nine cases where journalists were killed and two others wounded during their work in Gaza and Israel since Oct. 7.
"The scale, seriousness and recurring nature of international crimes targeting journalists, particularly in Gaza, calls for a priority investigation by the ICC prosecutor," RFS Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said in a statement. "We have been calling for this since 2018. The current tragic events demonstrate the extreme urgency of the need for ICC action."
The war crimes complaint said eight Palestinian journalists were killed in Israeli bombardments of Gaza and one Israeli journalist was killed while covering a Hamas attack on his kibbutz.
It said the Israeli journalist's death "constituted the willful 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 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 report said. "Even if these journalists were the victims of attacks aimed at legitimate military targets, as the Israeli authorities claim, the attacks nevertheless caused manifestly excessive and disproportionate harm to civilians, and still amount to a war crime under this article."
An Israeli airstrike killed the family of Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh Oct. 25.
"The indiscriminate assault 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," Al Jazeera said in a statement.
The complaint to the ICC also cites "the deliberate total or partial, destruction of the premises of more than 50 media outlets in Gaza."
According to Reporters Without Borders, 34 journalists have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war started with at least 12 of those deaths coming during reporting.
RSF investigated the Oct. 13 killing of Reuters photojournalist Issam Abdallah and wounding of AFP reporter Christina Assi while they were covering an exchange of fire between Hezbollah and Israel.
RSF concluded that two strikes within 38 seconds of each other hit a group of seven journalists from the direction of the Israeli border.
The second strike ignited a media vehicle, injuring Al Jazeera journalists Carmen Joukhadar and Elie Brakhya and AFP's Dylan Collins.
The RSF war crimes complaint also called on the ICC to investigate all of the cases of journalists killed since Oct. 7 covering the war between Israel and Hamas.
"Journalists are trapped in a 40-kilometer-long open-air prison, caught in an area that is shelled relentlessly when their offices or they themselves are not being targeted," RSF said in a statement. "The figures compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) show the unprecedented scale of the tragedy for journalism in Gaza."
RSF is also calling on Israel to end the bombardments in Gaza.
"The Israeli government should realize that horror does not justify horror," the RSF said. "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 bombardments, which amount to war crimes."
Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Reporters Without Borders filed a war crimes complaint with the International Criminal Court for crimes they said were committed against journalists who were killed and injured while working amid Israel's war with Hamas.
The war crimes complaint, the third since 2018, details nine cases where journalists were killed and two others wounded during their work in Gaza and Israel since Oct. 7.
"The scale, seriousness and recurring nature of international crimes targeting journalists, particularly in Gaza, calls for a priority investigation by the ICC prosecutor," RFS Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said in a statement. "We have been calling for this since 2018. The current tragic events demonstrate the extreme urgency of the need for ICC action."
The war crimes complaint said eight Palestinian journalists were killed in Israeli bombardments of Gaza and one Israeli journalist was killed while covering a Hamas attack on his kibbutz.
It said the Israeli journalist's death "constituted the willful 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 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 report said. "Even if these journalists were the victims of attacks aimed at legitimate military targets, as the Israeli authorities claim, the attacks nevertheless caused manifestly excessive and disproportionate harm to civilians, and still amount to a war crime under this article."
An Israeli airstrike killed the family of Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh Oct. 25.
"The indiscriminate assault 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," Al Jazeera said in a statement.
The complaint to the ICC also cites "the deliberate total or partial, destruction of the premises of more than 50 media outlets in Gaza."
According to Reporters Without Borders, 34 journalists have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war started with at least 12 of those deaths coming during reporting.
RSF investigated the Oct. 13 killing of Reuters photojournalist Issam Abdallah and wounding of AFP reporter Christina Assi while they were covering an exchange of fire between Hezbollah and Israel.
RSF concluded that two strikes within 38 seconds of each other hit a group of seven journalists from the direction of the Israeli border.
The second strike ignited a media vehicle, injuring Al Jazeera journalists Carmen Joukhadar and Elie Brakhya and AFP's Dylan Collins.
The RSF war crimes complaint also called on the ICC to investigate all of the cases of journalists killed since Oct. 7 covering the war between Israel and Hamas.
"Journalists are trapped in a 40-kilometer-long open-air prison, caught in an area that is shelled relentlessly when their offices or they themselves are not being targeted," RSF said in a statement. "The figures compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) show the unprecedented scale of the tragedy for journalism in Gaza."
RSF is also calling on Israel to end the bombardments in Gaza.
"The Israeli government should realize that horror does not justify horror," the RSF said. "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 bombardments, which amount to war crimes."
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