The television network Al Jazeera will forward a complaint against Israel to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the murder of cameraman, Samer Abu Daqqa, killed by a drone attack on Friday (15), while reporting on the previous attack against a school, used as a shelter for displaced people in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Al Jazeera, which is based in Qatar, reported that Israeli drones fired missiles at the school and fatally struck Abu Daqqa. He leaves a daughter and three sons. The station’s correspondent Wael Dahdouh – who lost his wife, a son, a daughter and a grandson, killed in an Israeli airstrike in October – was also injured in the attack.
“The network has established a joint working group comprised of its international legal team and international legal experts who will collaboratively begin the process of compiling a comprehensive file for presentation to the court prosecutor. The legal process will also cover recurring attacks on network teams working and operating in the occupied Palestinian territories and cases of incitement against them,” Al Jazeera said in a statement yesterday (16).
“In accordance with Article 8 of the Charter of the International Criminal Court, the deliberate attack on war correspondents or journalists working in war zones or occupied territories through murder or intentional physical assault constitutes a war crime,” continues the statement from the broadcaster.
The Israeli army issued a statement claiming that it never deliberately targeted journalists in attacks. And he blamed press professionals for being in an “active combat zone during exchanges of fire”, which presents “inherent risks”.
Abu Daqqa and Wael al-Dahdouh went to the Farhana school, in the city of Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, after the place was the target of an attack earlier in the day. At the time of the coverage, an Israeli drone fired at the school again, hitting both of them. The correspondent was hit by shrapnel in the arm and managed to get to Nasser hospital to be helped. Wael al-Dahdouh said they were accompanying civil defense rescue teams.
Since the start of Israel’s attacks on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, at least 64 press professionals have been killed.
Editing: Rodrigo Gomes
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
