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LONDON: Two Palestinian rights organizations have filed a case with the International Criminal Court over the killing of six Al Jazeera journalists in an Israeli strike on Gaza City.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, the Hind Rajab Foundation and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights called the attack “a clear-cut criminal act — a war crime and part of a broader genocidal campaign — and it demanded a direct, targeted legal response.”
The groups said the strike was part of “a long war on the press” by Israel, which used “recycled accusations” that the victims were “terrorists in press vests.”
The attack on Sunday destroyed the team’s tent, killing leading correspondent Anas Al-Sharif, correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, cameraman Ibrahim Zaher and driver-cameraman Mohammed Noufal. Al Jazeera initially reported five of its staff had been killed but later revised the figure to four.
Three others also died in the strike: Freelance cameraman Moamen Aliwa, freelance journalist Mohammed Al-Khaldi and Saad Jundiya, a civilian who was at the scene.
The Israel Defense Forces later confirmed the targeting was deliberate, accusing Al-Sharif of leading a Hamas cell and taking part in the Oct. 7 attacks. The allegations followed weeks of public vilification of Al-Sharif by Israeli officials, which had already raised fears for his safety.

Breaking: & file ICC complaint against those behind killing Anas Al-Sharif & colleagues:
Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, Maj.-Gen. Tomer Bar, Maj.-Gen. Yaniv Asor, Gen. A (Unit 8200), Palmachim Airbase Cmdr, “Black Snake” Sq Cmdr & Col. Avichay Adraee.…

— The Hind Rajab Foundation (@HindRFoundation)

The allegations have been rejected by rights groups, Al-Sharif’s colleagues, the UN, European and Arab governments, and Al Jazeera’s Qatari parent network, which accused Israel of systematically targeting its journalists to block coverage from Gaza.
“The killings of Anas Al-Sharif and his colleagues are not isolated incidents,” HRF and PCHR said. “Investigations reveal a systematic policy targeting Al Jazeera journalists.”
The Article 15 communication filed with the ICC focuses on both the operational chain of command that led to Al-Sharif’s killing — HRF’s contribution — and the documented cases of other slain Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza — PCHR’s contribution — which the groups say show “a pattern of premeditation and deliberate targeting.”
The group said it filed the complaint against Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, IDF chief of the General Staff; Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, commander of the Israeli Air Force; Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor, Southern Command commander; Brig. Gen. Yossi Sariel, former commander of Unit 8200 (Israel’s signals intelligence branch); General A., current commander of Unit 8200; the commander of Palmachim Airbase (name undisclosed); the commander of the “Black Snake” Squadron (name undisclosed); and Col. Avichay Adraee of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, Arab Media Division, who has been accused of leading a sustained smear campaign against Al-Sharif.
“The evidence is there. The legal foundation is unshakable. The jurisdiction is established beyond question,” the statement said. “What remains is for the International Criminal Court to move past statements of ‘grave concern’ and take the decisive step that justice demands: act.”
The announcement came as US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce declined to condemn Israel over the incident, telling reporters: “We refer you to Israel for information regarding Al-Sharif.”
Bruce expressed respect for journalists in war zones but echoed Israel’s allegations — made without evidence — that Hamas fighters have posed as reporters. “It is a horrible thing to do for those of you committed to finding information to be in that situation,” she said.

DOHA: Israel’s targeted killing of an Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza over the weekend was noteworthy even for a conflict remarkably blood-soaked for journalists, leaving some experts to marvel that any news at all emerges from the territory.
An Al Jazeera executive said Monday that it won’t back down from covering what is going on there and called for news organizations to step up and recruit more journalists. A total of 184 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed by Israel in the Gaza war since its start in October 2023, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. That compares to the 18 journalists and media workers killed so far in the Russia-Ukraine war, CPJ said.
Aside from rare guided tours, Israel has barred international media from covering the 22-month war in Gaza. News organizations instead rely largely on Palestinian Gaza residents and ingenuity to show the world what is happening there. Israel often questions the affiliations and biases of Palestinian journalists but doesn’t permit others in.
“You simply are in awe when stories show up,” said Jane Ferguson, a veteran war correspondent and founder of Noosphere, an independent platform for journalists. She can’t recall a conflict that has been more difficult for reporters to cover, and she’s reported from South Sudan, Syria and Afghanistan.
Correspondent Anas Al-Sharif knew he was a target, and left behind a message to be delivered upon his death. He and seven other people — six of them journalists — were killed in an air strike outside of Gaza City’s largest hospital complex on Sunday. Israel swiftly claimed responsibility, saying without producing evidence that Al-Sharif had led a Hamas cell. It was a claim the news organization and Al-Sharif had denied.
The toll of journalists in Gaza has been high
Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press, BBC News and Reuters are among the organizations regularly reporting from Gaza. An Aug. 7 AP dispatch vividly described the hunger faced by many in Gaza: “A single bowl of eggplant stewed in watery tomato juice must sustain Sally Muzhed’s family of six for the day. She calls it moussaka, but it’s a pale echo of the fragrant, lawyered, meat-and-vegetable dish that once filled Gaza’s kitchens with its aroma.”
Other recent AP reports carried images and text reporting from the aftermath of an Israeli strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church, and a profile of an 18-year-old aspiring doctor now trying to survive sheltered in a tent.
Journalists from The Washington Post and the Guardian recently accompanied a Jordanian relief mission and took images of Gaza from the air, despite some restrictions from Israel. The Guardian’s Lorenzo Tondo wrote: “Seen from the air, Gaza looks like the ruins of an ancient civilization, brought to light after centuries of darkness.”
None of the organizations match the power and immediacy of Al Jazeera, however, in part because their correspondents have been in front of cameras. They’ve also paid the heaviest price: CPJ estimates that 11 journalists and media workers affiliated with AJ have been killed in the Gaza conflict, more than any other single organization.
In a social media post written in June to be sent if he was killed, Al-Sharif wrote that “I have lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification — so that Allah may bear witness against those who stayed silent.”
In another posting on X on Aug. 10, the day that he was killed, Al-Sharif wrote of the challenges covering the aftermath of one attack. He said he lost his strength and ability to express himself when he arrived at the scene.
“Body parts and blood were all around us, and corpses were scattered on top of each other,” he wrote. “Tell me what words and phrases could help any journalist describe this horrific image. When I told you on air that it was an ‘indescribable scene,’ I was truly helpless in the face of this horrific sight.”
Al Jazeera calls for other news organizations to come forward
Salah Negm, news director at Al Jazeera English, said Monday it is very difficult to get people in to Gaza. But it is full of educated people and those with training in journalism who can help get stories out. He called on other news organizations to step up.
“We get the news from several sources on the ground in Gaza — not only journalists but also doctors, hospitals, civil servants, aid workers,” Negm said. “A lot of people in Gaza talk to us.”
Many of the journalists working in Gaza are facing the same struggles to find food, for themselves and their families, as the people they are covering. Noosphere’s Ferguson said she’s never before had to ask a reporter whether she had enough food for herself and her child.
In an interview in May on “Democracy Now!,” 22-year-old journalist Abubaker Abed described the difficult decision he made to leave Gaza to pursue his education in Ireland. Not only was he suffering from malnutrition, he said, but his mother was concerned that his work as a journalist would make him and his family targets.
“If I stayed, I would die,” he said.
Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said she’s concerned about the implications for journalists in future conflicts if what is happening in Gaza is allowed to continue without international condemnation that has real teeth.
“They’re essentially admitting in public to what amounts to a war crime,” Ginsberg said, “and they can do that because none of the other attacks on journalists have had any consequences. not in this war and not prior. It’s not surprising that it can act with this level of impunity because no international government has really taken it to task.”
Given all that they face, “to me, the most remarkable thing is that journalists are continuing to cover (Gaza) at all,” she said.