Reporters Without Borders requested the International Criminal Court for Gaza

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate war crimes committed against Palestinian journalists in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In the statement published on the official RSF website, it is stated that the request was submitted on behalf of the 8 Palestinian journalists who lost their lives in the Israeli bombing of civilian settlements in Gaza and the 1 Israeli journalist who died on 7 October.

The statement highlighted that the Israeli attacks in which Palestinian journalists lost their lives constitute a war crime according to the Rome Statute, since they are “indiscriminate attacks” under international humanitarian law and “excessive and disproportionate force is used against civilians.” “in these attacks.

Furthermore, it was stated that the death of the Israeli journalist amounted to the intentional murder of a person protected by the Geneva Convention and should be investigated in this context.

The statement stated that more than 50 media campuses in Gaza were destroyed “deliberately, partially or completely” and noted that “according to the latest data, 34 journalists have been killed, 12 of them in the line of duty” since the beginning of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

RSF Secretary General Christophe Deloire stated that the “size, severity and repetition of international crimes against journalists, especially in Gaza”, made it a “priority” for the ICC to carry out an investigation into the matter.

RSF previously requested the ICC in 2018 and 2021 to investigate war crimes against Palestinian journalists in Gaza. (AA)