Al Jazeera to file war crimes complaint with ICC against Israel after death of photographer News
Palestinian News & Information Agency (Wafa) in contract with APAimages, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Al Jazeera to file war crimes complaint with ICC against Israel after death of photographer

Al Jazeera announced Saturday that it planned to file a war crimes complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israel after the death of Al Jazeera news photographer Samer Abu Daqqa in Gaza in a Friday drone strike, which has been alleged to have been carried out by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

In the announcement, Al Jazeera stated it has formed a legal working group to put together a complete case file to share with ICC prosecutor Karim Khan. The outlet went on to allege that Israel and the IDF have repeatedly attacked members of the press in Gaza throughout the current Israel-Hamas war. The announcement concluded, alleging that Daqqa’s killing violated Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which states that the targeting of civilians is a war crime. Under Article 79 of the Geneva Convention, journalists “engaged in dangerous professional missions” in war zones are seen as civilians, extending the same protections to journalists and civilians local to a conflict zone under the Rome Statute.

Israel has yet to respond to Al Jazeera’s statement. Israel is not a member of the ICC and has previously denied the court has jurisdiction in Gaza. However, the ICC found in 2021, that Palestine is a state party to the Rome Statute, so the court does have jurisdiction in Gaza. Israel has also previously claimed that it “cannot guarantee” journalists’ safety and that Hamas uses journalism as a “cover for terrorism” in Gaza.

The Israel-Hamas war, which began on October 7 after Hamas launched an attack on Israel, has been one of the deadliest for journalists since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). According to the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate (PJS), over 70 journalists and news media employees have been killed since October 7. The CPJ estimated that 64 journalists have been killed, with 13 injured, 3 missing and 19 arrested. The CPJ previously raised concerns over the climbing journalist death toll in October shortly after Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed by an Israeli airstrike. 

There have been multiple accusations of war crimes committed by the IDF as well as Hamas throughout the current conflict. The Gaza Health Ministry released its latest death toll Saturday, alleging that at least 19,088 have been killed in Gaza thus far. Israel has alleged the death toll among Israelis has reached over 1,000. Last week, the UN General Assembly voted in favor of a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

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