Israeli forces' attacks against Palestinian journalists exceeded 260 cases last year: Committee

Amid the Tel Aviv regime’s relentless repression against press crews in the occupied territories, an independent organization says Israeli forces carried out over 260 attacks against Palestinian journalists through last year.

The Journalists’ Support Committee (JSC) said in a statement released on Monday that Israeli forces targeted the journalists in the occupied West Bank and residential neighborhoods across al-Quds as well as the besieged Gaza Strip.

The committee noted that a large number of the Palestinian journalists sustained injuries and in some cases permanent disabilities during the mentioned period, stressing that Israeli assaults have dramatically affected their professional career.

It went on to say that Israeli forces use munitions banned under international law on a daily basis against Palestinians in general, and journalists, in particular.

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The statement stressed that Israel constantly targets Palestinian journalists and persecutes media crews in order to terrorize them as they continue to expose the regime’s crimes against Palestinian people.

The committee finally called on Palestinian, Arab and international human rights institutions to shed light on the sufferings of wounded Palestinian journalists, provide them with adequate health care, and hold Israel to account at international bodies, the Security Council in particular, for its crimes against the members of the press.

Back in July last year, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) deplored the systematic attacks on journalists working in occupied Palestinian territories by the Israeli military, urging the United Nations to adopt proper measures against the Tel Aviv regime’s crimes against media freedom.

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Addressing the 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva via video link, Jennifer Robinson, the legal counsel to the IFJ and its affiliate the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS), emphasized that the Israeli military deliberately targeted media workers and their facilities across Palestinian territories.

“Since 2000, more than 46 journalists have been killed, and no one has been held to account. With ongoing impunity, the targeting continues,” she said.

Robinson added that Israeli forces bombed the 11-story al-Jalaa building, housing international media offices including the bureaus of the Associated Press and Al Jazeera television news network in the Gaza Strip, in May 2021.

She called upon the UN Special Rapporteur, the Human Rights Council and the international community to raise concern with the Israeli regime about the protection of journalists in Palestine.

The destruction of the al-Jalaa building during the 11-day offensive on the Gaza Strip was widely regarded as a brazen attempt to silence journalists covering Israel’s military attacks. Israel bombed the offices of at least 18 media outlets in less than a week.

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