We, the undersigned human rights organizations, express our deep indignation and profound outrage at the heinous crime perpetrated on August 25, 2025, by the Israeli occupation, whose airstrikes targeted the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, resulting in the death of dozens of civilians, including five journalists carrying out their professional and humanitarian duty of conveying the truth and documenting violations.
According to media and human rights sources, the journalists killed are:
Mariam Abu Daqa – Independent journalist,
Mohamed Salama – Photographer at Al Jazeera,
Hossam Al-Masri – Photographer at Reuters
Moaz Abu Taha – Collaborating journalist with NBC,
Ahmad Abu Aziz – Field journalist.
This crime comes only a few days after the targeted and premeditated assassination of journalist Anas Al-Sharif, Al Jazeera correspondent, who was executed along with four of his colleagues during the bombing of the journalists’ tent in front of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. The total number of journalists thus executed has now exceeded 244.
This reality confirms, without a shred of doubt, that the targeting of journalists has become a deliberate and systematic policy of the occupation, aimed at silencing every free voice, erasing the truth, and eliminating witnesses. It is deplorable that such crimes continue to unfold amidst the guilty silence of the international community and international organizations.
We underline the following: the intentional targeting of civilian journalists constitutes a clear war crime, in flagrant violation of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law. The immunity granted to journalists and humanitarian actors is expressly guaranteed under international law, and any attack against them constitutes a crime that is not subject to any statute of limitations.
Accordingly, the undersigned organizations demand:
The urgent opening of an international, independent investigation into these repeated crimes, and the prosecution of those responsible before the International Criminal Court;
The immediate establishment of international protection mechanisms for journalists and media institutions in the occupied Palestinian territories;
The intervention of international human rights organizations and professional bodies, in particular the International Federation of Journalists and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), to take rapid and concrete action beyond mere condemnations, including at minimum the proclamation of a worldwide general strike by the press;
The full accountability of the international community, and in particular of the States that support the occupation, for their complicity in covering up these crimes and providing political protection to their perpetrators.
The targeting of journalists in Gaza reflects a desperate attempt to muzzle the truth and conceal the crimes committed. Yet such assaults will not silence the free voice: the blood of the murdered journalists remains an irrefutable testimony to the failure of the occupation to suppress the truth.
Signatory Organizations:
Voix Libre Organization for the Defense of Human Rights — France
International AFDI (International EFDI) — Belgium
Al-Shehab Center for Human Rights — London
Association of Victims of Torture — Geneva
Alkarama for Human Rights — Geneva
Al-Tadamun for Human Rights
Justice for Human Rights (JHR)
Human Rights Monitor — London
Cedar for Human Rights — Lebanon
Tawasul for Human Rights — The Hague
Egyptian Rights Council — Geneva
Arab Observatory for Media Freedom
Najda Foundation