Palestinian media announced yesterday that Palestinian journalist Ismail al-Ghoul, correspondent for Al Jazeera in Gaza, was martyred when the occupation bombed a group of journalists near the house of the martyr Ismail Haniyeh in the Beach Camp, west of the Gaza Strip.

It also announced the martyrdom of photojournalist Rami al-Rifi in another bombing that targeted another group of journalists on Aidiya Street, west of Gaza City. The Qatar Press Center condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli occupation forces’ continued targeting of journalists in Gaza with killing and abuse, the latest of which is the assassination of journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and photographer Rami al-Rifi.

The Center calls on the international community and international, human rights and media organizations to condemn the targeting of journalists in Gaza with murder, arrest and intimidation, and to take urgent action to hold the Israeli occupation accountable before international courts for war crimes against journalists and media professionals, and to pressure it to stop crimes of genocide and stop the assassination of Palestinian journalists.

The Center calls on the international community to put pressure on Israel to release journalists detained in Israeli prisons who are suffering from compelling conditions that deprive them of the most basic prisoners’ rights stipulated in international laws and conventions.

The Center notes that with the martyrdom of Al-Ghoul and Al-Rifi, the number of journalist martyrs has risen to (165 male and female journalists) since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip, on the seventh of last October.