Gaza: the EU must act to end the targetted killing of journalists

Al Jazeera reporters Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa, were killed this Sunday when Israeli forces bombed their tent near Al-Shifain Gaza City.

Reuters reports that Israel’s military claimed responsibility, alleging Al-Sharif headed a Hamas militant cell and “was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF (Israeli) troops.” In its statement, Israel’s military cited intelligence and documents found in Gaza but has not made these public.

The five are the latest victims in a horrifying roll call of journalists and media workers killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and Lebanon. Since 7 October 2023, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has documented the killing of 186 journalists and media workers - 178 of them are Palestinians killed by Israel.

CPJ has determined that 20 of the victims were directly targeted and killed by Israeli forces and classified their deaths as murders. The organisation is investigating at least another 20 deaths that show signs of possible targeting.

States that supply weapons, including members of the Media Freedom Coalition, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, have a greater responsibility to ensure human rights are respected and that justice for war crimes is served.

We repeat our calls to those states to take action to end the killings by stopping the flow of arms used to commit atrocities and to EU member states to suspend the EU-Israeli trade agreement. Trade cannot come before human lives or press freedom.