Wadie Said, professor of law at the University of Colorado, says journalists cannot be targeted in conflicts as they are considered “protected persons” under international law.
The latest Israeli targeting and killing of Al Jazeera’s journalists is “remarkable”, he said, in that the Israeli military “engaged in a campaign of terrorisation of Anas al-Sharif directly”.
“It’s no longer being hidden, it’s no longer being kept under wraps,” Said told Al Jazeera.
Despite efforts for justice, there has been no accountability for Israel’s actions against journalists, Said added, including for the killing of veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot by Israeli forces in Jenin in the occupied West Bank in 2022.
“This led us to this place where we see a direct targeting” of Palestinian journalists, he added.
The US chiefly has been “very active in protecting Israeli officials and the state of Israel as an official entity from any sort of accountability on the world stage”, Said noted.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has expressed “deep concern” over Israel’s plan to seize Gaza City, in a telephone call with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Meloni shared “her deep concern over recent Israeli decisions, which appear to be leading to further military escalation”, and slammed the humanitarian situation in the Strip as “unjustifiable and unacceptable”, her office said.
In the call, Meloni “reiterated the need to immediately end hostilities in order to continue providing humanitarian assistance to a desperate civilian population”.
She also said she agreed with Abbas that “Hamas must release all hostages and accept that it will have no future in governing the Strip”, her office said.
The Government Media Office in Gaza reported that only 1,334 aid trucks out of the supposed 9,000 were allowed into Gaza over 15 days.
Gaza’s Civil Defence agency reported that at least 2,500 wounded Palestinians have been killed since March as Israel continues to deny coordinating most rescue missions.
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Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund said it is cutting ties with asset managers in charge of its Israeli investments, after it launched an ethical review last week.
Australia said it has secured “detailed and significant commitments” from the Palestinian Authority as conditions to recognise Palestinian statehood, and New Zealand said it may follow suit soon.
Activists organised demonstrations and vigils in several European capitals today to condemn Israel’s assassination of journalists in Gaza.
In Norway’s capital city, Oslo, a march ended with a vigil in front of the Norwegian Parliament, with protesters carrying pictures of dozens of killed journalists. One journalist set fire to his international press card in protest.
In Sweden’s capital, Stockholm, demonstrators raised Palestinian flags and carried banners denouncing the silencing of journalists.
In the United Kingdom, protesters gathered in front of the headquarters of the BBC to denounce the silence regarding the genocide in Gaza and the targeting of journalists.
The European Union has condemned Israel’s killing of five Al Jazeera journalists in the Gaza Strip, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
“The EU condemns the killing of five Al Jazeera journalists in an [Israeli military] air strike outside al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, including the Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif,” she said after EU foreign ministers discussed the war in virtual talks.
An Israeli military statement falsely accused al-Sharif of heading a Hamas “terrorist cell” and being “responsible for advancing rocket attacks” against Israelis.
Kallas said that while the EU took note of Israel’s allegations, “there is a need in these cases to provide clear evidence, in the respect of rule of law, to avoid targeting of journalists”.
