Rights groups: Israel sees journalists in Gaza as legitimate targets

Gaza: Human rights organizations in Palestine said Monday that Israeli forces turned journalists in the Gaza Strip into legitimate targets as part of a policy to intimidate and silence their voices amid the ongoing genocide and atrocities in the occupied enclave. Hamza al-Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief, and another reporter were killed in an Israeli airstrike Sunday, joining dozens of journalists who have been killed since Israel launched its war on Gaza on October 7. Three rights goups, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Al Mezan Center and Al-Haq, said in a joint statement that by the killing or disappearance of journalists, Israel aims to "monopolize the (war) narrative in order that the world does not see its true face, and silence free press as it denies access to Gaza by international news crews for free coverage." This policy is part of "a comprehensive approach pursued by the occupation forces as they carried out genocide and seek to inflict another Nakba (catastrophe) aga inst 2.3 million Palestinians in the Strip, the statement added. Journalists, like civilians, enjoy special protection under international humanitarian law, they said, citing an article of the Geneva Conventions, which states that "Journalists engaged in dangerous professional missions in areas of armed conflict shall be considered as civilians." "They also enjoy protection under the International Human Rights Law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the Israeli occupying state has ratified, but refuses to recognize its applicability to the population of the occupied territory, just as it denies the application of international humanitarian law to them," added the statement. Source: Jordan News Agency