The NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in a press release on Wednesday that it had referred the matter to the International Criminal Court (ICC) “for war crimes against journalists in Palestine and Israel.”
“RSF filed a war crimes complaint with the ICC Prosecutor’s Office on October 31, 2023. It details the cases of 9 journalists killed since October 7 and two injured in the performance of their duties,” RSF said in a press release. The court is not obliged to deal with the matter.
This complaint concerns “eight Palestinian journalists killed in Israeli bombings of civilian areas in Gaza and an Israeli journalist killed on October 7 while reporting on the Hamas attack on his kibbutz.” It also states “the deliberate total or partial destruction of the premises of more than 50 media outlets in Gaza.”
“Extreme emergency”
“The scale, severity and frequency of international crimes against journalists, particularly in Gaza, require a priority investigation by the ICC Prosecutor. We have been demanding this since 2018. The current tragic events show the utmost urgency of its mobilization,” emphasized Christophe Deloire, Secretary General of the NGO.
The ICC, which can be appealed to by states, the UN Security Council or the prosecutor himself (self-submission), is not obliged to take up this complaint. According to RSF, 34 journalists have been killed since the beginning of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, at least twelve of whom died in the line of duty (ten in Gaza, one in Israel and one in Lebanon).
Regarding Lebanon, which is not a state party to the International Criminal Court, “RSF is exploring the possibilities of bringing these cases to other relevant jurisdictions,” the press release said. The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Monday counted at least 31 journalists killed since October 7, including 26 Palestinians, four Israelis and one Lebanese.
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The CPJ, which counts victims in Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Lebanese border, also counted eight injured and nine missing or detained journalists in a news release. According to this organization, this number is already the highest for journalists covering this conflict since CPJ was founded in 1992.
Original article published on BFMTV.com
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