The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) have filed a joint case with the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the killing of Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Anas Al-Sharif and his colleagues in Gaza.
The journalist (28) was filming outside Al-Shifa Hospital on Sunday when a missile hit the tent where he and other reporters had taken shelter. Seven people were killed, including four Al Jazeera journalists and one from Sahat Media.
The Israeli military later admitted that the attack was deliberate, accusing the victims of being “terrorists in press vests.”
The ICC complaint names senior Israeli military and political officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing them of war crimes and genocide. It asks the court to issue arrest warrants, expand Netanyahu’s warrant to cover crimes against journalists, and include the killings of more than 220 journalists in its investigation into Palestine.
“The assassination of Anas Al-Sharif was so brutal, brazen and imbued with such contempt for human life, truth, the rule of law and humanity itself that it cannot and will not be silenced,” said HRF President Dyab Abou Jahjah.
The organizations stressed that there was clear evidence and called on the ICC to stop expressing “deep concern” and take the decisive steps that justice demands, to act.
In addition, United Nations experts condemned the killings of the Al Jazeera journalists in a separate statement.
“The killing of the four journalists at the very moment Israel is announcing its plan to take over Gaza is not a coincidence, but a deliberate attempt to silence those who would reveal the crimes of the Israeli army to the world,” they said.
“It is shameful that the Israeli military first dares to wage a smear campaign against Anas Al-Sharif, portraying him as a Hamas member in order to discredit his reporting, and then kills him and his colleagues for the truth they were bringing to the world,” they added.
They said these were the actions of “an arrogant military that believes it is above the law, regardless of the gravity of the crimes it commits.” They called for an end to impunity and the imposition of severe sanctions on the Israeli government.
Photo: Al Jazeera
