Ref: 95/2023
Date: 17 September 2023
Time: 07:00 GMT
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the injury of a Palestinian journalist in his hand with a teargas canister fired by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) yesterday while he was covering clashes between IOF and Palestinian protestors in eastern Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip. This attack is part of IOF’s continuous and systematic violations committed against journalists and national and international media outlets operating in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) to cover Israeli violations and incidents despite the protection provided to them as civilians under the international humanitarian law.
According to PCHR’s investigations, at around 17:10 on Friday, 15 September 2023, IOF stationed in military watchtowers along the eastern borders of Khan Yunis fired live ammunition and teargas canisters at Palestinian protestors near the borders. As a result, three were injured, including freelance journalist Ashraf Mohammed Nassar Abu ‘Amra (37), from Dir al-Balah, who was directly hit with a teargas canister in his hand while covering the incidents around 350 meters away from the border fence. Also, several journalists suffocated due to teargas canisters fired by IOF; one hit the car of journalist Sa’eed al-Khatib, a photographer at the Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Journalist Abu ‘Amra said to PCHR that he was hundreds of meters away from the Israeli military watchtower covering the incidents with his own camera among other journalists who were wearing their distinctive uniforms, as IOF were shooting at the protestors. He added: “Suddenly, I felt a severe blow to my right hand and saw a glow of fire in front of my face, and I started screaming. The journalists started calling for an ambulance that approached me and provided me with first aid. I was then evacuated to Naser Hospital in Khan Yunis, where it turned out that there was a laceration in my fingers and doctors decided to admit me to the operating room.” Abu ‘Amra underwent surgery that required implant of 4 titanium plates to fix the finger bones.
As part of their excessive use of force, IOF have used live ammunition and teargas canisters against peaceful protestors in the oPt although the latter posed no danger to soldiers’ lives. According to PCHR’s documentation, IOF’s use of teargas canisters against Palestinian protestors since 2000, whether by directly hitting their bodies or causing suffocation, has killed 18 Palestinians in the oPt: 9 in the West Bank, including a child, and 9 in the Gaza Strip, including 7 children. Moreover, 564 Palestinians were directly hit with teargas canisters in the oPt during the same period: 298 in the West Bank and 266 in the Gaza Strip.
PCHR believes that this attack perpetuates IOF’s systematic violations against Palestinian journalists and proves their disregard for the international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949.
PCHR appeals all international press bodies and institutions to continue their follow-up of the violations committed against journalists in the oPt and endeavor all efforts at the international level aimed at exerting pressure on the Israeli government to stop its crimes against Palestinian civilians and their property in general, and its crimes against journalists in particular.