229 rights groups urge for Israel’s accountability for ‘premeditated assassination’ of Al Jazeera’s Shereen Abu Aqleh

Occupied Jerusalem (QNN)- About 230 international human rights organizations and networks have strongly condemned Israel’s assassination of Al Jazeera’s reporter Shereen Abu Aqleh.

Local sources reported that 229 signatories affirmed in a statement that Israel’s targeting of Abu Aqleh was a “deliberate and premeditated act and a full-fledged assassination operation.”

“Martyr Shireen Abu Akleh is a direct victim of organized terrorism [by ‘Israel’], which behaves with the mentality of criminal gangs,” the signatories stressed.

The statement added that the killing was a result of systematic incitement against Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation for their professional role in revealing the truth and exposing the occupation’s crimes.

It further criticized the international community’s silence over atrocities committed by Israeli forces against Palestinians, saying it exposes their double standards.

“The Israeli occupation forces, with their heinous act, want to obscure the truth and cover up their horrendous crimes against the sons and daughters of the Palestinian people. Moreover, the regime, with its heinous act, wants to scare and intimidate journalists to prevent the conveyance of the truth to the world,” the signatories said.

The statement also called for the opening of a “neutral, independent and transparent” international investigation into the Israeli targeting of the Palestinian journalist under the supervision of the International Criminal Court [ICC].

The signatories stressed the need to launch an international campaign by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, the International Federation of Journalists, international nongovernmental organizations, and Palestinian human rights institutions to hold Israeli war criminals accountable, prevent impunity for the perpetrators, and bring a legal human rights case at the ICC to prosecute Israeli leaders and politicians, who publicly incite the killing of Palestinian civilians, including journalists.

According to the Qatar-based news channel, Al Jazeera, and the Palestinian Health Ministry, Shereen Abu Aqleh was shot in the face by a single bullet fired by Israeli forces while she was covering an Israeli military raid into the Jenin refugee camp despite wearing a press vest, earlier on Wednesday. She was rushed to Ibn Sina hospital in critical condition and was announced dead soon afterwards.

Another journalist identified as Ali Asmoadi who works for the Jerusalem-based Al-Quds newspaper was also shot in the back by Israeli live bullet during the same raid and he is in a stable condition.