The deliberate targeting of journalists is a war crime and requires international accountability.
August 11, 2025
The European Campaign for Gaza condemns in the strongest terms the horrific war crime committed by the Israeli occupation forces on the evening of August 10, 2025, namely the deliberate assassination of journalists Anas Al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqea, and photographers Ibrahim Al-Zaher and Mohammed Nofal, through direct shelling, while they were carrying out their journalistic duties covering field events in the Gaza Strip.
This act constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, particularly:
1. The Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), which prohibits attacks on civilians and persons not participating in hostilities, including journalists.
2. Additional Protocol I (1977), which stipulates in Article 79 the obligation to protect journalists working in conflict zones.
3. UN Resolution 2222 (2015), which emphasizes the need to protect journalists and prevent impunity.
While we affirm that targeting journalists constitutes a war crime under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, this requires an urgent international investigation to hold those responsible accountable and bring them to justice. Accordingly, we demand the following:
1. An immediate cessation of the war of extermination waged by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
2. An independent international investigation under the supervision of the United Nations and the Human Rights Council.
3. Referral of the case to the International Criminal Court as a war crime documented by evidence and testimonies.
4. Imposing international sanctions on the occupying state and its military and political leaders responsible for issuing and implementing targeting orders.
5. Providing urgent international protection for journalists and media workers in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Finally, the European Campaign for Gaza affirms that targeting journalists will not succeed in obscuring the truth. The blood of the victims will remain a witness to the crimes of the occupation, and that this entity and its leaders will be prosecuted before international courts until justice is served.