A group of 17 US senators urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to pressure Israel to protect journalists in Gaza and to grant foreign media access to the territory. The senators condemned an Israeli strike that killed several Al Jazeera journalists, including correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal. The senators stated that Israel has not provided convincing evidence that al-Sharif was a Hamas militant and warned that, absent a compelling military explanation, the strike would amount to targeting journalists and violate international law. The senators requested more information from the State Department. State Department officials reiterated Israel's unverified claim and Al Jazeera accused Israeli authorities of fabricating evidence.
It comes a week after an Israeli strike killed several Palestinian journalists in the besieged territory, including Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, and Al Jazeera cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal. The attack was met with international outcry and brought the number of journalists killed by Israel in Gaza since October 7, 2023, to 238, according to the Gaza Government Media Office.
Israel has not provided convincing evidence for its claim that al-Sharif was a Hamas militant, the senators wrote. Absent a compelling explanation of the military objective for this attack, it appears Israel is publicly admitting to targeting and killing journalists who have shown the world the scale of suffering in Gaza, which would be a violation of international law. The group urged President Donald Trump's administration to provide more information about the State Department's awareness and analysis of the strike.
Collection
[
|
...
]