UN Condemns The Assassination Of Al Jazeera Journalists By Israeli Soldiers

Gaza/DOK WHO via UN

JAKARTA - UN experts condemned Israel's killing last week against journalist Al Jazeera Ismail Al-Ghoul and cameraman Ramy El Rify in Gaza. The United Nations has urged that the death be prosecuted as a war crime.

The two men were killed in an air strike on July 31 by the Israeli military. Israel accused Al-Ghoul of being a Hamas agent who took part in the October 7 attack on Israel.

The Israeli Defense Forces released documents confiscated from a Hamas computer that it said confirmed its claims.

"I strongly condemn Israel's deliberately targeting two journalists in Gaza, who have added to the already dire death toll in this war," said Irene Khan, UN Special Reporter for freedom of opinion and expression.

The Israeli military says Al-Ghoul is a member of Nukhba's elite unit and is involved in recording and publication of attacks on Israeli forces.

Al Jazeera rejected what he said was a "baseless accusation" and said Al-Ghoul had been working for the network since November 2023 and his only profession was as a journalist.

The IDF said Hamas documents seized in Gaza included members of the organization's military wing, and by 2021, Al-Ghoul had become engineers in the Gaza Hamas Brigade.

Khan said journalists were protected as civilians under international humanitarian law and targeted them for intentionally a war crime.

"This status will only disappear if they participate directly in hostilities, and Israel does not provide concrete evidence of this," he said.

"Given Israel's failure to heed previous calls for accountability, I urge the International Criminal Court to move quickly to try the killing of journalists in Gaza as a war crime and call on the international community to immediately consider using international mechanisms to investigate crimes against journalists in Gaza," he explained.