CPJ says the Israeli navy ‘continues to behave with complete impunity with regards to the killing of journalists’.
The Committee to Defend Journalists (CPJ) has denounced Israel’s killing of 4 Palestinian journalists in Gaza over the previous week because the Israeli navy intensifies its bombardment of the besieged territory.
America-based watchdog stated in an announcement on Monday that the worldwide group has failed to carry Israel accountable for its actions amid the rising dying toll of journalists and civilians in Gaza.
“At the very least 95 journalists and media staff have been killed worldwide in 2024,” CPJ’s CEO Jodie Ginsberg stated.
“Israel is accountable for two-thirds of these deaths and but continues to behave with complete impunity with regards to the killing of journalists and its assaults on the media.”
The remarks got here a day after Israeli forces killed Ahmed al-Louh, a 39-year-old Palestinian journalist who labored for Al Jazeera as a cameraman, within the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Over the earlier days, Israel additionally killed journalists Mohammed Balousha, Mohammed Jabr al-Qrinawi and Eman Shanti.
Hours earlier than an Israeli air strike killed Shanti alongside along with her husband and youngsters in Gaza Metropolis on Wednesday, the Palestinian journalist wrote on social media: “Is it doable we’re nonetheless alive till now?”
In accordance with native well being authorities, Israel has killed greater than 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza. It has additionally levelled giant components of the enclave and imposed a suffocating blockade, resulting in lethal starvation throughout the territory.
United Nations specialists and rights teams have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
With no overseas reporters allowed to work in Gaza, Palestinian journalists have been the one witnesses describing the atrocities to the surface world. And that, rights advocates argue, has put them within the crosshairs of an Israeli navy working with out regard to authorized and moral norms.
In accordance with the Gaza Authorities Media Workplace, Israeli forces have killed 196 Palestinian media staff in Gaza because the begin of the warfare final 12 months. CPJ, which has not included some media staff in its tally, places the dying toll at 133.
On Sunday, Al Jazeera condemned the killing of al-Louh, accusing Israel of finishing up a “systematic killing of journalists in chilly blood”.
Al-Louh was the newest of a number of Al Jazeera-affiliated journalists killed by Israeli forces because the begin of the warfare. He was killed on the primary anniversary of the killing of one other Al Jazeera cameraman, Samer Abudaqa, in an Israeli assault.
Earlier this 12 months, Israel additionally killed the community’s correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and his companion cameraman Rami al-Rifi in a focused assault.
The Israeli navy has not denied concentrating on al-Louh and different Al Jazeera journalists. As an alternative, it has tried to make use of a well-recognized excuse to justify their killing – accusing them, with out proof, of being members of Palestinian armed teams, which the community has vehemently denied.
On Sunday, the Israeli navy claimed that al-Louh was a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, offering no proof to again the allegations.
Israel had additionally stated that al-Ghoul was a member of Hamas and later launched an apparently fabricated doc as supposed proof, which claimed that al-Ghould obtained a Hamas navy rank in 2007 – when he would have been 10 years previous.
For the reason that outbreak of the warfare on Gaza, Israel has alleged – largely with out proof – that its assaults on Palestinians are a part of its marketing campaign towards Hamas.
The Israeli navy has additionally bombed schools, hospitals and displaced folks’s camps, claiming that it was concentrating on Hamas fighters.
