"Blood of Journalists in Gaza: A Testament to War Crimes That Will Not Fade with Time"

Gaza - Palestine

The Israeli occupation army deliberately assassinates the truth by targeting journalist

Ans Shereef and his colleagues

The blood of journalists in Gaza... a testament to war crimes that do not expire over time

Paris, August 11, 2025

We, the undersigned human rights organizations, strongly condemn the heinous crime committed by the Israeli occupation on the evening of Sunday, August 10, 2025, which involved the deliberate assassination of the Al Jazeera crew in the Gaza Strip, resulting in the martyrdom of journalist Ans Shereef and his colleagues Muhammad Qareqea, Ibrahim Zaher, Moamen Aliwa, and Muhammad Nofal, and the injury of journalist Muhammad Sobhi, due to direct shelling targeting the journalists' tent in front of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

The blatant admission by the Israeli occupation and its public boasting about targeting journalist Ans Shereef, after months of pursuing and publicly threatening him, constitutes conclusive evidence of the systematic nature of these crimes. It confirms that the killing of journalists in Gaza is a deliberate policy aimed at silencing the truth and obscuring witnesses to the grave crimes and violations committed against civilians, as well as concealing war crimes from the eyes of the world.

It is noteworthy that, according to reliable local and international reports, the number of journalists who have been martyred in Gaza since October 2023 at the hands of the brutal occupation has exceeded 220 journalists, making this war the deadliest against journalists in modern times, and placing the occupation in a position of international criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

As we express our shock and deep anger at this crime, we affirm that targeting journalists while performing their media duties constitutes a blatant violation of Article (79) of the Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, and Article (19) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as all international norms that guarantee the protection of journalists in conflict zones.

Therefore, we demand the following:

1- An urgent and independent international investigation under the supervision of the United Nations into the assassination of the Al Jazeera crew and all crimes of killing journalists in Gaza.

2- The referral of Israeli occupation leaders and military officials involved in these crimes to the International Criminal Court.

3- The immediate imposition of international sanctions on the occupying state, including an arms embargo, to stop its crimes against journalists and civilians.

4- The urgent provision of international protection for journalists and media institutions operating in Gaza.

We warn that the continued silence of the international community regarding these repeated crimes against journalists in Gaza is complicity through silence that contributes to the ongoing bloodshed and undermines press freedom and the right of peoples to access the truth.