The UN rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression on Tuesday condemned Israel’s killing of Al Jazeera journalist Ismail al-Ghul and photographer Rami Alifi in the Gaza Strip last week and called for it to be investigated as a war crime.
“We strongly condemn Israel’s deliberate targeting of journalists in Gaza, which adds to the already horrific number of journalists and media workers killed in this war,” Irene Khan, the UN special rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, said in a statement.
Khan stressed that international humanitarian law guarantees journalists protection as civilians, and that deliberately targeting them is a war crime. He also said that this protection is only lost if they directly participate in hostilities, something Israel has not provided any material evidence of.
She added: “Given Israel’s failure to respond to previous calls for accountability, I urge the International Criminal Court to promptly investigate the killings of journalists in Gaza as war crimes, and the international community to urgently consider using international mechanisms to investigate crimes against journalists in Gaza.”
An Israeli airstrike killed a journalist and photographer on July 31. The Israeli military claimed that “al-Ghoul was a Hamas member and was involved in the attacks on Israel on October 7.”
The military accused the journalist of documenting and publishing attacks on Israeli forces. Al Jazeera media network rejected the accusations, describing them as “baseless allegations,” and said Al-Ghoul had been working for the network since November 2023 and that his only job was journalism.
