Al Jazeera Network refers the case of killing its cameraman in Gaza Samer Abu Daqqa to the International Criminal Court

The Qatar based, Al Jazeera network said in a statement, Saturday, that it has decided to prepare a legal file to refer the case of the “assassination” of one of its photographers in Gaza to the International Criminal Court.
Al Jazeera added in its statement, “We’ve decided to urgently refer the case of the assassination of our colleague photographer Samer Abu Daqqa to the International Criminal Court”.
Al Jazeera said that its photographer, Abu Daqqa, was killed in a drone strike, Friday, while he was covering a previous bombing of a school used as a shelter for displaced people in the southern Gaza Strip.
Al Jazeera added in its statement that Israeli drones fired missiles at the school, seriously wounding Abu Daqqa and leading to his death.
The statement continued, “We’ve formed a group that includes our team and legal experts to prepare the Abu Daqqa assassination file to submit to the criminal court; The legal file will include repeated attacks on network crews working in the Palestinian territories, as well as incidents of incitement against them”.
Commenting on the incident, the Israeli army said in a statement that it never and will never intend to target journalists.
The Israeli army added that staying in an active combat zone during an exchange of fire “involves risks”.
The International Criminal Court already continues to investigate alleged crimes within its jurisdiction committed on Palestinian territory, as well as by Palestinians on Israeli territory.
In 2021, ICC judges ruled that the court had jurisdiction over crimes committed after Palestinian authorities joined the court in 2015 and were granted observer state status at the United Nations.
Israel doesn’t recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over the Palestinian territories and has previously refused to cooperate with the court.
The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court doesn’t usually comment on the details of ongoing investigations.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said on Friday that the ten weeks of war in Gaza had inflicted heavy losses on journalists, with at least 64 journalists and media workers killed.
The committee called on the international authorities to conduct an independent investigation into this attack to hold its perpetrators accountable.
An Israeli tank crew killed Reuters TV cameraman Issam al Abdullah and wounded six journalists in Lebanon on October 13 when it fired two shells in quick succession from Israel while the journalists were filming cross-border bombing, a Reuters investigation showed.
The Israeli military said the incident occurred in an active combat zone and was under review.