The PJS said in a press statement that it “strongly condemns the heinous crime committed by the Israeli occupation”, resulting in the killing of Mohammad Mansour, a correspondent for Palestine Today, and Hossam Shabat, a correspondent for Al Jazeera Mubasher.
“This horrific war crime aims to erase the truth and terrorize all those who carry the message of free speech,” it added.
“This crime is neither an isolated incident nor an exception; rather, it is part of a systematic policy pursued by the occupation to eliminate Palestinian journalists, who have become direct targets of Israel’s killing machine simply because they are fulfilling their duty of reporting the truth,” it stressed.
“Since the beginning of the aggression, more than 206 journalists, media professionals, and media workers have been killed by Israeli bullets and missiles in what constitutes the deadliest massacre against journalists in modern history—amidst an alarming international silence and disgraceful complicity with the crimes of the occupation,” it elaborated.
The PJS held the Israeli occupation fully responsible for these crimes and affirmed that targeting journalists “is a full-fledged war crime that necessitates immediate action from the international community to put an end to these violations, which constitute a blatant assault on press freedom and human rights.”
It called on the United Nations, the International Criminal Court and all human rights and media organizations worldwide to “move beyond mere condemnation and take serious, immediate steps to hold the Israeli occupation accountable for its crimes.”
It urged “the imposition of deterrent sanctions to put an end to the culture of impunity that emboldens Israel to continue its violations.”4
It reaffirmed its “commitment to documenting these crimes and pursuing Israeli leaders in all legal and international forums to expose their criminal actions to the world,” while emphasizing that “attempts to silence Palestinian journalism will fail, and that the voice of truth will always rise above the sounds of killing and oppression.”