5 days ago
- Politics
- Days of Palestine
Hind Rajab Foundation Sues Israeli Military Chiefs at ICC for Journalist Killings
DaysofPal – The Hind Rajab Human Rights Foundation has lodged a formal complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against six senior Israeli military commanders over the killing of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, his colleague Mohammed Qreiqa, and other members of the network's Gaza team.
Those named in the complaint include Israel's Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, Air Force Commander Major General Tomer Bar, and Southern Command Chief Major General Yaniv Asor.
The foundation stressed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, already wanted by the ICC, bears ultimate political responsibility for the killings, having promoted a strategy of targeting journalists as part of the ongoing war on Gaza.
Diab Abu Jahjah, director of the Hind Rajab Foundation, urged the ICC to take 'practical measures' by issuing arrest warrants for those involved in what he described as the assassination of Al Jazeera's journalists.
He called for the existing arrest warrant against Netanyahu to be expanded to include the systematic targeting of journalists, which constitutes a war crime under international law.
Abu Jahjah said the Israeli military does not deny deliberately targeting Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues, adding that the foundation's complaint documents the chain of command from the drone strike that killed them to the airbase from which it was launched, up to the army's highest leadership.
He noted that the foundation is not limiting accountability to political leaders alone but also to military officers directly involved in the operation.
The complaint also addresses the role of Israeli incitement against journalists. Abu Jahjah pointed to the army's Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, accusing him of helping 'prepare the ground' for the assassination through targeted messaging, an act the foundation considers part of the crime.
Abu Jahjah warned that the ICC cannot ignore the evidence and Israel's admission of responsibility. He said the foundation will also pursue justice in national courts, tracking Israeli officials and their collaborators when they travel abroad to seek their prosecution.
Al Jazeera's Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqa were killed on Sunday evening when an Israeli airstrike hit the network's crew tent near Gaza City's Al-Shifa Medical Complex. With their assassination, 236 journalists have now been killed in Israel's war on Gaza.
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