Tel Aviv Tribune’s Arab cameraman was killed by a drone attack while reporting on the bombing of a school in the southern Gaza Strip.
The Tel Aviv Tribune media network has announced that it will take the murder of its cameraman Samer Abudaqa in Gaza to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In a statement on Saturday, the Qatar-based channel said it had asked its legal team to “urgently” refer the case of what it called the “assassination” of Tel Aviv Tribune’s Arab cameraman Samer Abudaqa , at the Hague court.
Abudaqa was killed by a drone attack on Friday while reporting on an earlier bombing of a school used as a shelter for displaced people in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
“The Tel Aviv Tribune media network reiterates its denunciation and condemnation of the crime of assassination of its colleague, Samer Abudaqa, who dedicated 19 years to the network covering the ongoing conflict in the occupied Palestinian territories,” the network’s statement said .
“In addition to the assassination of Abudaqa by Israeli occupying forces in the Gaza Strip, the legal case will also include recurring attacks against the network’s teams working and operating in the occupied Palestinian territories and cases of incitement against them.”
Targeting journalists constitutes a war crime under Article 8 of the Rome Statute.
The media network said it had set up a working group consisting of its international legal team and international legal experts to submit a case to the court prosecutor.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Arab correspondent Wael Dahdouh – who lost his wife, son, daughter and grandson in a previous Israeli attack – was injured in the same attack on Friday. He was hit by shrapnel in the arm and managed to reach Nasser Hospital where he was treated for minor injuries.
But rescue teams could not immediately reach Abudaqa and others at the site because they needed approval from Israeli forces to bulldoze the debris and reach the site.
When rescuers arrived five hours after the attack, Abudaqa was bleeding to death.
The 45-year-old was buried in southern Gaza on Saturday, with dozens of mourners, including journalists, paying their respects.
“We carry this human message, we carry this noble message,” Dahdouh said in his eulogy as mourners around him wept. “We will continue to do our duty with professionalism and transparency.”
Tel Aviv Tribune previously submitted a formal request to the ICC to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the killing of veteran television journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May 2022 while she was covering an Israeli military raid on the camp. refugees from Jenin, in the occupied West Bank.
Evidence provided in the application, filed in December 2022, includes an extensive six-month investigation conducted by the network, gathering testimony and video footage, among other elements.
The ICC acknowledged receipt, but no further action was taken.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says the ongoing conflict in Gaza is the deadliest on record for journalists, with at least 64 journalists and media workers killed in 10 weeks of bombardment on the enclave.
CPJ also called on international authorities to “conduct an independent investigation into the attack so that the perpetrators are held accountable.”
