The Palestinian Journalists Protection Center (PJPC) condemns the crime of targeting and killing three journalists — Mohammed Al-Kweifi (Shehab Agency), Ayman Haniyeh (Al-Manara Media Agency), and Iman Al-Zamli (Palestine News Network) — in the Gaza Strip, in a new escalation of Israeli crimes against the Palestinian press.
The center explained that journalist Mohammed Al-Kweifi, who worked for Shehab Agency, was martyred along with another civilian after an "israeli" strike targeted a tent on the roof of his home in the Al-Nasr neighborhood, west of Gaza. It noted that Al-Kweifi had lost his wife and children at the beginning of the war that broke out on October 7, 2023.
It pointed out that the occupation army has escalated its crimes against journalists as part of its attempts to occupy Gaza City and empty it of its residents.
The center affirmed that targeting Palestinian journalists constitutes a compound war crime and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, which guarantees protection for civilians and media workers during armed conflicts, as well as Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees the right to freedom of expression and access to information.
It added that the killings of Al-Kweifi, Haniyeh, and Al-Zamli have raised the death toll of martyred journalists in Gaza since the start of the war to 251, reflecting a systematic policy by the occupation to impose a media blackout and eliminate witnesses to the truth.
The center called on the United Nations and the Human Rights Council to form an independent international investigative committee into crimes targeting journalists, urging the International Criminal Court to include these crimes in its files on war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the occupation.
It stressed that "israel’s" impunity poses a direct threat to free journalism and to peoples’ right to know, holding the international community responsible for its silence in the face of these grave violations.
Resistance News Network, https://t.me/PalestineResist/81939