A Palestinian journalists’ rights group has condemned the recent killing of two Palestinian journalists by the Israeli army in less than 24 hours in the Gaza Strip. This brings the total number of male and female journalists to 183 since Israeli waged its war on Gaza on 7 October, 2023.
The Palestinian Journalists Protection Center (PJPC) stated, Saturday, the Israeli war on the besieged territory has been the deadliest for journalists more than any other conflict over the past eight decades.
“The targeting and killing of journalists in Gaza by the occupation army has reached levels unprecedented since World War II and represents a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and human rights,” the PJPC said.
“The continuation of these crimes and violations and the failure to hold their perpetrators accountable indicates that the occupation government has external support that allows it to act in this horrific and inhumane manner,” the group added.
The PJPC also said that “the killing has become the main weapon to silence journalists in Gaza,” according to PressTV.
Meanwhile, the Gaza-based Government Media Office announced that photojournalist Bilal Rajab was killed on Friday when an Israeli airstrike targeted a group of people near the popular Firas Market in the center of Gaza City.
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It urged the international community and international journalist organizations to prosecute Israel before the international courts for its crimes against Palestinians and journalists.
Palestinian journalist Baraa Ali Daghish was killed by the Israeli army during an airstrike on a house north of the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
Guterres denounces
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced the Israeli army’s killing of journalists in Gaza as “unacceptable”. He called for their protection from the genocide Israel is perpetrating in the blockaded coastal Strip.
In a message addressed to the 30th United Nations International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East at the UN office in Geneva, Friday, Guterres also criticized the continued Israeli ban preventing international journalists from entering Gaza.
He noted journalists in Gaza have been “killed at a level unseen in any conflict.”
He added journalists covering developments in the occupied West Bank were also killed or injured by the Israeli army.
“It is high time for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon with the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, the effective delivery of humanitarian aid, and irreversible progress to a two-state solution,” the secretary-general pointed out.
Journalists operating in the Palestinian territory are faced with increased dangers as they report on the conflict amidst Israeli ground assaults and airstrikes, disrupted communications, supply shortages, and power outages.
So far, Israel has killed at least 43,314 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injured 102,019 others.
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