Al Jazeera to refer killing of cameraman in Gaza to war crimes court
Al Jazeera is preparing a legal file to send to the international criminal court (ICC) over what it called “the assassination” of one of its cameramen in Gaza, the Qatari-based network has said.
The cameraman, Samer Abu Daqqa, was killed by a drone strike on Friday while reporting on the earlier bombing of a school used as a shelter for displaced people in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Qatar-based broadcaster.
Al Jazeera said Israeli drones fired missiles at the school that left Abu Daqqa with fatal injuries. It was not possible to verify the details of the incident.
“The Network established a joint working group, which comprises of its international legal team and international legal experts who will collaboratively initiate the process of compiling a comprehensive file for submission to the court’s prosecutor,” Al Jazeera said in a statement on Saturday.
“The legal file will also encompass recurrent attacks on the Network’s crews working and operating in the occupied Palestinian territories and instances of incitement against them.”
Commenting on the incident, the Israeli army said in a statement it had “never, and will never” deliberately target journalists. It also said that remaining in an active combat zone during exchanges of fire “has inherent risks”.
Abu Daqqa and correspondent Wael al-Dahdouh had gone to Farhana school in the southern city of Khan Younis after it was hit by a strike earlier in the day. While they were there, an Israeli drone hit the school with a second strike, the network said.
Dahdouh was hit by shrapnel on his upper arm and managed to reach
Nasser hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries, the network reported.
The correspondent – whose wife, son, daughter and grandson were killed in an Israeli airstrike in October – said the Al Jazeera crew had been accompanying civil defence rescuers.
Subsequent efforts to coordinate a safe passage to send rescuers for Abu Daqqa were delayed, Dahdouh said, according to Al Jazeera, adding that one ambulance that tried to reach the cameraman came under fire. Abu Daqqa subsequently died of his injuries.
Abu Daqqa, a native of Khan Younis, joined Al Jazeera in June 2004, working as both a cameraman and an editor. He leaves behind a daughter and three sons.
The ICC already has an ongoing investigation into any alleged crimes within its jurisdiction committed on Palestinian territory and by Palestinians
on the territory of Israel.
In 2021, ICC judges ruled that the court has jurisdiction after the Palestinian authorities signed up to the court in 2015 and were granted United Nations observer state status.
Israel does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC over the Palestinian territories and has previously refused to cooperate with the court.
The ICC office of the prosecutor does not typically comment on the details of ongoing investigations.
The 10 weeks of war in Gaza have taken a heavy toll on journalists, with at least 64 reporters and media workers killed, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Friday.
The CPJ called on international authorities to “conduct an independent investigation into the [Friday’s] attack to hold the perpetrators to account”.
Earlier this month, a strike killed the father, mother and 20 other family members of another Al Jazeera correspondent, Momen al-Sharafi.
An Israeli tank crew also killed Reuters visuals journalist Issam Abdallah and wounded six other reporters in Lebanon on 13 October by firing two shells in quick succession from Israel while the journalists were filming crossborder shelling, a Reuters investigation found.
The Israeli military said the incident took place in an active combat zone and was under review.