Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) stated that the occupation has published photos and names of six Al Jazeera journalists working under great risks and have lost family members and colleagues, accusing them of belonging to Palestinian factions, in preparation for their assassination.
The IOF published photos and names of journalists Anas Al-Sharif, Alaa Salama, Hussam Shabat, Ashraf Al-Sarraj, Ismail Abu Omar, and Talal Al-Arouqi yesterday, claiming that it had found documents in the Gaza Strip confirming their affiliation with factions of the Palestinian resistance. This announcement came while massacres in the northern Gaza Strip were being committed by the IOF.
Since October 7, 2023, with the start of the Israeli genocide of Palestinians, the IOF targeted journalists, their families and their workplaces. At least 177 journalists and media professionals have been killed, and many have been seriously injured, the latest of whom were Al Jazeera photojournalists Fadi Al-Wahidi and Ali Al-Attar, who are still in critical conditions in hospital. The IOF also prevents them from leaving the Gaza Strip for treatment, despite their deteriorating health conditions.
The IOF deliberately targets journalists despite their commitment to the journalists’ protocol during wars and armed conflicts by wearing helmets, clothing and clear badges identifying them. Most of the journalists were directly targeted while doing their job, and others while being in their homes after receiving threats from the IOF, and there were those targeted in their press tents set up near hospitals to allow them to cover the events.
Furthermore, the IOF directly targeted media institutions in the Gaza Strip, such as Al-Ayyam newspaper, Gaza Radio, Shehab News Agency, Maan News Agency, Agence France-Presse office, Al-Arabi TV, Al Jazeera, and others.
Since the beginning of the genocide, the occupation has prevented foreign press crews from entering the Gaza Strip to cover the events and only allowed some correspondents to accompany the IOF while killing and destroying to deliver its false narrative.
AOHR UK called for an action to be taken at all levels to protect journalists in general and those identified six journalists in particular, and to protect their families as well in all occupied territories to ensure the crimes committed by the occupation forces and settlers are covered and delivered to the whole world, and to hold accountable the perpetrators of crimes against journalists, especially the recent crimes committed in the Gaza Strip.
