International Criminal Court says probing Israeli killing of journalists in Gaza

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has confirmed that it is investigating potential crimes against journalists amid the ongoing relentless Israeli ground and air strikes against the besieged Gaza Strip, where dozens of reporters have been killed.

Media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in November that it had filed a complaint with the Hague-based ICC regarding the Israeli regime’s war crimes over the deaths of journalists trying to cover the Gaza war.

“The office of prosecutor Karim Khan has assured the organization that crimes against journalists are included in its investigation into Palestine,” the NGO announced on Monday.

The court confirmed the statement on Tuesday, saying, “The ICC Office of the Prosecutor’s investigation into the situation in the State of Palestine concerns crimes committed within the Court’s jurisdiction since June 13, 2014.”

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) lately said the first 10 weeks of the Gaza war have been the deadliest recorded for journalists, with the most journalists killed in a single year in one location.

The group, a nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide, noted that most of the journalists and media workers killed in the war were Palestinian.

It added that it was “particularly concerned about an apparent pattern of targeting of journalists and their families by the Israeli military.”