The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) condemns the assassination of six Palestinian journalists, Anas Al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqa (correspondents for Al Jazeera), Ibrahim Dhafer, Mohammed Noufal, Moamen Alouwa, and Mohammed Al-Khaldi , who were deliberately targeted by direct shelling of the journalists’ tent in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza on the night of August 10, 2025. The ICHR considers this a full-fledged war crime and a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, particularly Article 79 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions and UN Security Council Resolution 2222 (2015) on the protection of journalists.

The ICHR stresses that this crime comes as part of an Israeli systematic policy to target Palestinian journalists, within a broader media suppression campaign aimed at preventing the truth from being conveyed about the occupation’s violations in Gaza. Since the start of the aggression in October 2023, more than 238 Palestinian journalists have been killed.

The ICHR holds Israel, the occupying power, fully responsible and calls on the international community to:

1. Pressure Israel to immediately halt the genocide and ensure the protection of journalists.
2. Launch an independent international investigation with the participation of the Human Rights Council or the International Criminal Court, and hold those responsible accountable.
3. Include violations against journalists in the reports of international human rights mechanisms.
4. Refer the file of crimes committed against journalists to the International Criminal Court as war crimes.
5. Urgently engage the UN Special Rapporteurs to take immediate action.
6. Urge the States Parties to the Geneva Conventions to take legal measures to protect journalists.
7. Encourage human rights and media organizations to document these crimes and pursue accountability for the perpetrators.

The ICHR emphasizes that protecting journalists is a legal and moral duty of the international community, and that the continued targeting of journalists is a direct result of international silence and the occupation’s impunity.