Doha, Qatar: The National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) has strongly condemned the horrific crime committed by the Israeli occupation authorities, which claimed the lives of six journalists, four of whom worked for Al Jazeera Media Network.
Chairperson of the NHRC H E Maryam bint Abdullah Al-Attiyah stated in a press release that this appalling crime adds to the ongoing series of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity that the Israeli occupation authorities have been committing against the civilian population in the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly in the Gaza Strip, since October 7, 2023.
She stressed that the occupation has blatantly disregarded all international conventions that protect journalists in conflict zones and during wartime.
Al-Attiyah emphasised that the occupation authorities continue to perpetrate crimes and violate the rules of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, driven by the ongoing silence of the international community and the weakness of international protection measures.
Al-Attiyah renewed her call for the international community to take immediate action to protect civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories from the attacks and severe security measures imposed by the occupation authorities with the aim of exterminating the Palestinian people.
She stressed the need to respect and protect journalists working inside the occupied Palestinian territories, enabling them to perform their professional duties, and safeguarding them from all forms of retaliation and intimidation.
In this context, the NHRC Chairperson underscored the importance of urgent international measures to pressure the occupation authorities to immediately halt their attacks targeting civilians and vital facilities that serve as lifelines for the population.
She called for granting humanitarian relief teams and journalists full freedom of access and movement within the occupied Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip.
Al-Attiyah expressed her deep sorrow over the assassination of journalists who were carrying out their media coverage duties with professionalism, noting that these victims were a revealing eye exposing the systematic starvation policy, deliberate killing of civilians, and deprivation of essential needs — a desperate attempt by the occupation authorities to conceal their crimes, which are already laid bare before the world.
She stressed that the assassination of journalists will not hide the truth and called on the international community and relevant international institutions to ensure that perpetrators of crimes against journalists do not continue to enjoy impunity.
