Ramallah (UNA/WAFA) – The Palestinian National Council called on the international community and journalist protection organizations to take immediate action to hold accountable those who commit crimes against Palestinian journalists and provide urgent protection to media workers. The council stressed that what Palestinian journalists are facing is not just an attack on individuals, but rather a deliberate attempt to silence the voice of Palestine and destroy its narrative.
In a statement issued on Sunday, on the occasion of Arab Media Day, the National Council held the Israeli occupation fully responsible for its crimes against journalists.
He added that this anniversary comes this year amid one of the bloodiest chapters in contemporary Palestinian history, as the Palestinian people have been subjected for more than 18 months to a fascist and organized terrorist aggression that has reached its peak in the Gaza Strip, where a comprehensive war of extermination and systematic ethnic cleansing has spared neither children nor women, not even hospitals, schools, or media outlets.
He pointed out that Palestinian journalists have experienced some of the most dangerous conditions in the world during this aggression, becoming direct targets for aircraft and shells, in flagrant violation of all humanitarian laws. More than 212 journalists have been killed since the beginning of the aggression on Gaza, most of them while performing their duty to convey the truth. Media offices have also been destroyed, equipment seized, and communications deliberately cut off to isolate Gaza from the world.
He explained that these crimes are being committed in the shadow of suspicious international silence and in blatant defiance of international conventions, most notably the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which stipulates the protection of civilians, including journalists, in times of war, in addition to the First Additional Protocol of 1977, specifically Article (79), which grants journalists full protection as civilians.
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