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12:25 GMT
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
JEDDAH, April 7 (KUNA) -- The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) strongly condemned on Monday the Israeli occupation forces' attack on a journalists' tent in the city of Khan Younis, South of Gaza, which led to the martyrdom of a journalist and the injury of several others.
In a press release, OIC called the incident a blatant violation of press and media freedom and an extension of Israel's policies aimed at suppressing the truth, silencing voices, and covering up its crimes.
The organization stressed that the attack is part of a larger pattern of Israeli actions targeting journalists to prevent them from transmitting information publicly.
The organization holds the Israeli occupation forces the full responsibility for the deaths of over 210 journalists and media workers since the beginning of the ongoing genocide on Gaza.
It renewed its call for the International Criminal Court to continue its investigations into all crimes committed by Israeli forces against civilians, including journalists who are subjected to deliberate killings, arbitrary arrests, and physical assaults as part of their journalistic duties.
Furthermore, OIC also urged international institutions, particularly the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to take all necessary measures to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice and to provide protection for press freedom and the safety of journalists working in the occupied Palestinian territories in accordance with international humanitarian law and related international agreements.
Earlier today, two Palestinians were martyred, one of them a journalist, and several journalists were injured, some critically, in an Israeli airstrike targeting a journalists' tent near Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Medical sources in the area confirmed that journalist Helmi Al-Faqaawi was martyred alongside another civilian, while several other journalists sustained varying degrees of injury.
A video circulating online shows flames engulfing the journalists' tent, with one journalist trapped inside as his body caught fire. Local citizens were unable to extinguish the flames, and the journalist was later transported to the hospital. (end)
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