The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the assassination of three journalists and the injury of three others in an Israeli airstrike this morning targeting their tent within Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City .PCHR believes that the continued and escalating targeting and killing of journalists over the past 20 months unequivocally proves that these are deliberate and intentional killings, aimed at intimidating, terrorizing, and preventing journalists from exposing the truth to the world. Such targeted attacks are part of the crime of genocide Israel is committing in the Gaza Strip.

According to available information, at approximately 10:25 on Thursday, 05 June 2025, an Israeli warplane launched a missile at the journalists’ tent set up in the courtyard of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City. As a result, three journalists were killed and three others were injured, including two in critical condition. The journalists killed in the strike were identified as: Suleiman Hani Hajjaj (32), correspondent for Palestine Today TV; Ismail Kamal Badah (34), cameraman for Palestine Today TV, and Sameer Hosni al-Rifa’ie (28), a journalist working with Shams News Agency.  Meanwhile, the wounded were as follows ‘Emad Dalloul, correspondent for Palestine Today TV, Ahmad Qalajah, cameraman for Alaraby TV, both of whom sustained serious injuries and were admitted to the hospital’s intensive care unit and Imam Bader, cameraman for Alaraby TV, who sustained moderate injuries.

With the killing of these three journalists, the number of journalists killed by IOF since 07 October 2023 has risen to 224 according to Gaza’s Government Media Office. Among those killed were 14 female journalists and according to the Reporters Without Borders, 42 journalists lost their lives while carrying out their professional duties. In addition, dozens of journalists were killed due to targeted attacks on their homes. Moreover, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate documented the bombing of 152 houses that killed 665 family members and relatives of journalists. Other journalists were killed in indiscriminate bombardment throughout the ongoing genocide. Additionally, 415 journalists have been injured under various circumstances during the aggression. Moreover, a large number of social media activists have been targeted by the IOF, who systematically incite against them and threaten to kill them if they do not remain silent.

PCHR asserts that the targeting of journalists intends to isolate the victim and prevent the documentation of Israel’s genocidal acts against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. Thus, PCHR calls on the international community to openly condemn the targeting of journalists, to exert pressure on Israel, the occupying power, to immediately stop these attacks, and to urgently provide international protection for civilians, including journalists, in the Gaza Strip.

PCHR emphasizes that the deliberate and systematic killing of journalists is part of the ongoing crime of genocide in Gaza and constitute a war crime under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to Article 8 of the ICC’s Rome Statute. It also constitutes arbitrary deprivation of life under Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the perpetrators must be held accountable.

PCHR stresses that the continued failure of the international justice system to hold Israeli leaders accountable for their crimes has encouraged them to commit further violations and crimes against journalists and their families, carried out without deterrence.

In light of the above, PCHR calls on the international community to pressure the occupying power to immediately stop targeting journalists and to take immediate action to provide international protection for civilians, including journalists, in the Gaza Strip. PCHR also urges the international community to exert pressure on Israel to stop its crimes, comply with the rules of international law, and provide protection for civilians.

PCHR calls upon the international journalists’ organizations, including the International Federation of Journalists, to act urgently to push towards holding Israel accountable for the killing and targeting of journalists in Palestine, particularly in the Gaza Strip.

PCHR also calls on the ICC Prosecutor to expedite the issuance of tangible measures to accomplish the investigation into the situation of the State of Palestine, including killings of journalists who pay their lives as a cost for exposing the truth especially that the victims in Palestine have long awaited justice and accountability.

PCHR also urges the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression to scale up efforts to protect the right to freedom of opinion and expression and investigate crimes committed by IOF against journalists and media outlets in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).