Irene Khan, special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, has presented a report to a special UN committee on global threats to freedom of expression arising from the conflict in Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.

“The severe attacks on media in the occupied Palestinian territory, in Gaza, but also in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the targeted killings of journalists, … the banning of Al Jazeera, the tightening of censorship within Israel and in the occupied territories seem to indicate a strategy of the Israeli authorities to silence critical journalism and obstruct documentation of possible international crimes,” she said.

When asked by Al Jazeera why, of all the documented cases of Israel targeting journalists, none has been investigated or prosecuted, Khan replied:

“In most cases, impunity occurs because the national state is inactive and, therefore, the international mechanism has to be strengthened. There should be an international independent international mechanism to investigate when killings take place.”