On the night of 11 May, theĀ Israeli military bombed theĀ Al-Jawhara tower, located in Gaza,Ā which hosts the offices of 13 media institutions and NGOs. The PJSĀ said theĀ attack was deliberateĀ and targeted. There were no injuries as journalists evacuated their offices after the Israeli army warned some of the media that the building would be bombed. However, media organisations lost their equipment. The IFJ said the Israeli government must compensate the media for their financial losses.
TheĀ offices ofĀ theĀ media organizationsĀ –Ā The National Information Agency, Palestine Newspaper, Al-Arabi Channel, Al-Ittijah TV, Al-Nujaba TV, the Syrian TV, Al-Kufiya Channel, Al Mamalaka channel, APA Agency, Sabq Agency 24, Bawaba 24, the Palestinian Media Forum, the Palestinian Forum for Democratic Dialogue and DevelopmentĀ –Ā were completely destroyed.Ā The offices ofĀ Al-Jazeera TV,Ā adjacent to the targeted building, were also damaged
SpanishĀ newsĀ agencyĀ EFE’sĀ correspondent in Jerusalem said on Twitter that theirĀ correspondent in Gaza had to flee its office at Al-Jawhara tower after a warning message from the Israeli military.
In addition to the targeted attacks against media organizations in Gaza, the PJS reported that the Israeli forces arrestedĀ photojournalist Hazem NasserĀ in theĀ West BankĀ on May 12. Since the beginning of the events in Jerusalem, the Israeli authorities have arrestedĀ at leastĀ 27 media workers in what the PJS and other press groups denounced as a clear attempt to silence media reporting on the ground.
The PJS said in a statement: āThe PJS calls on all the guarantors of freedom of journalistic work, especially the United Nations and its organizations and the Red Cross to provide urgent field protection for journalists, and to activate Security Council Resolution 2222 so to obligate the occupation to implement and respect it.ā
IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger, said: āWe stand in solidarity with all the Palestinian journalists and the PJS during these hard moments.Ā The international community cannot turn a blind eye to the systematic violations of human rights and theĀ deliberateĀ targeting of media and journalists. Urgent actions must be taken to hold those responsible for these crimes internationally accountableā.Ā
In December 2020 the IFJ submittedĀ two complaintsĀ to the UN Special Rapporteurs overĀ Israelās systematic targeting of journalists working in Palestine and its failure to properly investigate killings of media workers which the complaint states are āa violation of the right to life, freedom of expression and in breach of international law and may amount to war crimes”.
