The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) have filed a joint case at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the killing of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif and his colleagues in Gaza.
On Sunday, the 28-year-old journalist was filming outside Al Shifa Hospital when a missile struck the tent where he and other reporters were sheltering. Seven people were killed, including four Al Jazeera journalists and one working for Sahat Media Platform.
The Israeli military later admitted that the strike was deliberate, accusing the victims of being “terrorists in press vests.”
“The assassination of Anas Al-Sharif was so blunt, so arrogant, and so drenched in contempt for human life, truth, the legal order, and humanity itself that it cannot and will not be allowed to pass into silence,” said HRF Chairman Dyab Abou Jahjah.
Underlining the evidence present, they urged the ICC to “move past statements of ‘grave concern’ and take the decisive step that justice demands – act.”
The ICC filing names senior Israeli military and political figures, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and accuses them of war crimes and genocide.
It urges the court to issue arrest warrants, expand Netanyahu’s warrant to include crimes against journalists, and include the killing of more than 220 journalists in its Palestine investigation.
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Additionally, UN experts, in a separate statement, condemned the killings of Al Jazeera journalists.
“The killing of four journalists just as Israel announces its plan to take over Gaza City is no coincidence, but a deliberate attempt to silence those who would have exposed the IDF’s atrocities to the world,” they said.
“It is outrageous that the Israeli army dares to first launch a campaign to smear Anas Al-Sharif as Hamas in order to discredit his reporting and then kill him and his colleagues for speaking the truth to the world.”
These are acts of “an arrogant army that believes itself to be impune, no matter the gravity of the crimes it commits,” they said, urging an end to the impunity.
“The States that continue to support Israel must now place tough sanctions against its government in order to end the killings, the atrocities and the mass starvation,” they concluded.
Israel has killed more than 61,000 people in Gaza since October 2023, and reduced it to a rubble. The military campaign has led to deaths by starvation, spread of disease, and piles of trash are a common sight.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
International condemnation
The Dutch Foreign Ministry has requested an explanation from Israel over the killing of six journalists, including the Al Jazeera corresponden Al-Sharif.
The ministry asked Israel, via its embassy in The Hague, to provide evidence supporting claims that two of the victims, both Al Jazeera reporters, were linked to the armed group Hamas.
“It is up to the Israeli authorities to provide proof for their allegations,” a ministry spokesperson told Turkish channel Anadolu on Tuesday.
The spokesperson said the issue was also raised at the EU foreign ministers’ meeting, where Foreign Minister Casper Veldkamp expressed concern about rising violence against journalists during the war in Gaza.
Veldkamp, the ministry said, stressed that “too many people, including journalists, have been killed” in the conflict.
The Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ) also condemned the killing of al-Sharif, calling it a targeted attack, and urged the foreign minister to impose tougher sanctions on Israel in a letter sent earlier this week.
On Monday Canada also condemned the killing of Al Jazeera journalists but avoided naming Israel as responsible for the fatal attack.
“Canada condemns the killing of the Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza. Journalists are civilians — targeting them is unacceptable. We call for full accountability and for the protection of media everywhere,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on X.
Elsewhere, France warned on Tuesday of a possible “disaster” and “escalation” if the Israeli government implements its military occupation plan in Gaza.
“The recent announcement by the Israeli government of a military occupation of northern Gaza, if implemented, would be a disaster and an escalation, with Israeli hostages and Gaza’s civilian population once again the first victims,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
It reaffirmed that France continues to support the deployment of a temporary international stabilisation mission aimed at ensuring the security of both Israelis and Palestinians.
