Al Jazeera announced on Saturday that it intends to file a war crimes complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israel, following the death of their news photographer Samer Abu Daqqa. Daqqa was killed in a drone strike in Gaza, allegedly orchestrated by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Details from Al Jazeera indicate that the network has formed a legal working group to assemble the case file for ICC prosecutor Karim Khan.
The network alleges that Israel and the IDF have consistently attacked press members throughout the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Furthermore, they claim that Daqqa’s death is in violation of Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which categorizes the deliberate targeting of civilians as a war crime. The Geneva Convention’s Article 79, views journalists “engaged in dangerous professional missions” in war zones as civilians, conferring them the same protections as locals in a conflict zone under the Rome Statute.
Israel, not being a member of the ICC, has yet to respond to Al Jazeera’s claim and has routinely denied the court’s jurisdiction in Gaza. Despite this, the ICC found in 2021 that Palestine is a state party to the Rome Statute, thereby giving the court jurisdiction in Gaza. In the past, Israel has also claimed that it cannot provide safety to journalists in the region and accuses Hamas of using journalism as a cover for terrorism.
The Israel-Hamas conflict, which started on October 7 after a Hamas attack on Israel, has been particularly deadly for journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate (PJS), report that over 70 journalists and news media employees have been killed since the start of the conflict. The CPJ estimates the numbers to be 64 journalists killed, 13 injured, three missing, and 19 arrested.
The IDF and Hamas have both faced numerous war crime accusations throughout the ongoing conflict. According to the Gaza Health Ministry’s report, almost 19,088 have been killed in Gaza. Conversely, Israel claims that over 1,000 Israeli lives have been taken. Both numbers have risen considerably, leading the UN General Assembly to call for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza last week.
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