Israel and Hamas war crimes killed dozens of journalists, press freedom group says

Dozens of journalists are the victims of war crimes committed by the Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas, according to a complaint filed with the International Criminal Court by a media freedom group.

Since the war sparked by an incursion of Hamas backed terrorists into Israel began in early October, 34 journalists have died, according to the group Reporters Sans Frontières, or Reporters Without Borders. Their deaths violate ICC rules on indiscriminate attacks and targeting of people protected under the Geneva Conventions, the group told the Hague prosecutor’s office.

“The scale, seriousness and recurring nature of international crimes targeting journalists, particularly in Gaza, calls for a priority investigation by the ICC prosecutor. We have been calling for this since 2018. The current tragic events demonstrate the extreme urgency of the need for ICC action,” RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said along with the announcement of the war crimes complaint.

The complaint outlines the cases of nine journalists — eight Palestinians and one Israeli — who were killed while conducting news gathering or reporting and two others who were wounded on duty but survived.

The Palestinian journalists were the victims of indiscriminate IDF attacks in Gaza, which according to the press freedom group constitute war crimes under an article of the Hague’s Rome Statute.

“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,” the group wrote.

The Israeli journalist was ostensibly protected by the Geneva Conventions but nevertheless killed in a “targeted strike” by the IDF, according to RSF, and his death was therefore a war crime as defined by the Hague, the group claims.

The complaint also calls on the Hague to further investigate the deaths of the 25 other journalists and “the deliberate, total or partial, destruction of the premises of more than 50 media outlets in Gaza.”

This is the third war crimes complaint filed with the ICC on behalf of journalists covering the situation on the ground in Gaza since 2018. Israel has not consented to ICC jurisdiction and is not one of its member states.

Israel’s war on Hamas was declared following the brutal deaths of more than 1,400 Israeli civilians by terrorists from Gaza. The resulting air strikes and ground operations have resulted in the deaths of more than 8,000 Palestinians, according to unverified figures provided by the Hamas linked Gaza Health Ministry.