PARIS: An NGO defending press freedom said on Wednesday it had filed a complaint alleging war crimes with the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the death of journalists in the Israeli air strikes and Oct 7 raid.

Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF, said its complaint concerned “war crimes committed against Palestinian journalists in Gaza” and “against an Israeli journalist”.

Specifically, the complaint concerned eight Pale­stinian journalists who were killed in bombardments of civilian areas in Gaza by Israel, and an Israeli journalist who was killed while covering a raid on Oct 7, the RSF said.

“It also cites the deliberate, total or partial, destruction of the premises of more than 50 media outlets in Gaza,” it said.

“The attacks suffered by Palestinian journalists in Gaza correspond to the international humanitarian law definition of an indiscriminate attack and therefore constitute war crimes,” it said, while the Israeli journalist’s death constituted “the intentional homicide of a person protected by the Geneva Conventions, which is a war crime”.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2023