Al Mezan Center for Human Rights issued today, Sunday, a report on the Israeli occupation forces’ targeting of journalists and media institutions during the aggression it launched on the Gaza Strip during the period between 10-21 May 2021 AD, and the report bore the title of “Press and Media” in the crossfire.
The report dealt with the attempts of the occupation authorities to prevent the press and media from covering the reality of what is happening on the ground. It prevented foreign journalists from entering the Gaza Strip, and turned the offices of media institutions and news agencies into a war target, targeting journalists and media institutions, whether the headquarters of satellite channels, television channels, radio stations, or newspapers. Or news agencies, media production companies, media training centers, or advertising companies.
The report indicates that (12) journalists were injured while working, (170) officials and correspondents of foreign and Arab media outlets were prevented from entering the Gaza Strip for the purpose of coverage, (51) media institutions were completely destroyed, and (22) media institutions were partially damaged.
The report presents facts about the aggression and violations committed by the Israeli occupation forces against journalists, news agencies and the media, and its effects on the freedom of the press and media and the freedom of journalistic work. The report shows that the occupation forces aimed to prevent the transmission of the truth of the violations they committed during their aggression on the Gaza Strip. And, in order to achieve this goal, it has dispensed with its obligations under the rules of international humanitarian law, by targeting journalists and the offices of media organizations, and officially announced that it had targeted them despite being civilian objects.
The report shows that the occupation forces directly and indirectly targeted and destroyed media facilities, as well as indispensable equipment for journalistic and media work, despite the protection imposed by international humanitarian law.
In addition to violating the rules of international law such as distinction, proportionality and military necessity, and violating the special protection required by the second paragraph of Article 52 of the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions for journalists, it violated a number of human rights, by targeting media offices and headquarters and their employees, especially the right to life. and physical integrity, the right to work, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to obtain and publish information, and the freedom of journalistic work.
The report also shows the angry reactions to the bombing of media offices, especially the Associated Press and Al Jazeera, which sparked international opinion and showed the occupation forces what they are, and their attempts to falsify the truth did not deceive anyone, which prompted - among many other factors - the opinion´s attention The global public and its movement and pressure on governments to stop the aggression.
The report clarified its information by addressing the headlines of preventing the press and the media from covering, destroying the headquarters and equipment of news agencies and media institutions, and endangering the lives of journalists, reinforced by the numbers that the center’s researchers strived to reach in light of the continuation of the field documentation process for the violations of the occupation forces during the aggression. It is supported by testimonies collected from journalists and media officials.
