111 civil society organizations condemn preventing journalists from covering the aggression against Gaza

Ramallah - Together - On Tuesday, 111 organizations and civil society networks condemned the ongoing Israeli occupation campaign aimed at placing very severe restrictions, including banning the access of representatives of international press and media institutions to the Gaza Strip. The organizations also condemned, in their statement, the deliberate targeting of all local and international press and media institutions, which killed 148 male and female journalists during the past eight months, in addition to the deliberate injury, arrest and detention of dozens of journalists in inhumane conditions, and the destruction of the headquarters of press institutions in the Gaza Strip, including Offices of international press institutions. The organizations considered that silencing the voice of the free press and forcing the world to believe the false Israeli narrative about what is happening, and falsifying the truth about the crime of ethnic cleansing and genocide committed against civilians, exposes the goals of the Israeli campaign of preventing the access of international fact-finding committees, international staff of the United Nations, and international press crews to The Gaza Strip and coverage of the crimes of genocide committed by the forces of the occupying state and apartheid against the Palestinian people. She added that this behavior is reinforced by the Israeli Supreme Court's rejection of a request submitted by the Foreign Press Association to allow international media access and entry to the Gaza Strip. The organizations pointed out that the Israeli campaign aims to obscure the truth, falsify the facts on the ground, and impede the documentation and publication of the crimes of the hateful racist occupation, which have so far claimed the lives of more than 36,000 Palestinian civilians and injured more than 82,000 others, which is incompatible with the special protection granted to them. Journalists enjoy it under Article 79 of Additional Protocol I to the four Geneva Conventions. The organization s that signed the statement considered that preventing, restricting and prohibiting the access of journalists and press institutions to the Gaza Strip constitutes a crime under the established principles of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, including the right to freedom of the press and freedom of opinion and expression guaranteed in accordance with international law, especially Article 19. From the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It stressed that the horrific Israeli violations committed against journalists and press institutions in the occupied Palestinian territory, especially the murder and targeting of journalists, are considered a war crime and a crime against humanity, and fall within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, in accordance with Article 8 of the Rome Statute establishing the permanent International Criminal Court, and call for The Attorney General moved this court. The organizations appreciated the work of journalists and press institutions, especially those that began after eight months to stop promoting the false Israeli narrative after realizing the horrific truth, and adopted the honest Palestinian narrative about what was happening, stressing that Western media coverage that promoted the lies and narratives of the Israeli occupation is an accomplice in the crime of misinformation. And fabricating pretexts that led to the shedding of much innocent blood in the Gaza Strip. In their statement, the organizations called on the international community and its specialized institutions to quickly take practical measures in order to impose and ensure an end to the war on Gaza. It also called on international institutions and organizations to open an investigation into the war crimes committed by the occupation against male and female journalists and press institutions, and to allow safe and continuous access for journalists to the Gaza Strip. The organizations ca lled on the International Solidarity Movement with the Palestinian People, the International Federation of Journalists, press unions, and all Arab, regional and international organizations to take action at all legal, political, diplomatic, legal and popular levels, to ensure the entry of journalists and international investigation teams into Gaza, to ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians and to spread their suffering and voices. Victims. Source: Maan News Agency