GENEVA, (PIC)
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday, “The Israeli army’s killing of journalists in the Gaza Strip is unacceptable.”
Guterres added that “the war on Gaza completed its first year last month,” stressing that the deteriorating situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Israeli military operations, the construction of settlements and the increasing intensity of settler attacks continue to weaken the possibility of reaching a two-state solution.
Guterres criticized the continued “Israeli ban”, which prevents international journalists from entering Gaza, noting that “journalists in the Strip are being killed at an unprecedented level in any past conflict.”
He stressed that “journalists covering developments in the occupied West Bank were also killed or injured by the Israeli army,” stressing that “this situation is unacceptable.”
The Government Media Office in Gaza had earlier announced that the number of martyrs among journalists in the Strip has mounted to 183 since October 7, 2023.
Meanwhile, the Forum of Palestinian Journalists said in a statement on Saturday that the international inaction for prosecuting Israel and holding it accountable for murdering journalists and targeting civilians in Gaza, paved the way for committing more crimes against Palestinian journalists and media institutions over more than a year of its genocidal war in the Strip.
In a press statement on the occasion of the International Day to end impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, which falls on the second of November, the Forum said the Israeli occupation crimes against journalists affected 183 journalists and hundreds of their families.
It also called on concerned international bodies to take serious and decisive measures to hold the Israeli occupation accountable for its grave crimes against Palestinian journalists in order to put an end to its continuous impunity.
The Forum called for obliging the Israeli occupation army to abide by international and humanitarian laws and conventions that stipulate for the protection of journalists and media institutions during times of conflict.
