US Muslim group urges media to condemn Israeli killing of journalists

WASHINGTON

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) urged the US media Monday to condemn Israel’s latest killings and attacks on journalists in the Gaza Strip.

"The lives of journalists who are Muslim, Palestinian or people of color should matter to media outlets just as much as journalists who are white, European or Christian," CAIR said in a statement.

It came after Hossam Shabat, a correspondent for the Qatar-based Al Jazeera Mubasher channel, was killed in an Israeli strike in northern Gaza and Mohammad Mansour, a reporter for Palestine Today TV, was killed in another airstrike that struck his apartment in the southern city of Khan Younis.

CAIR said they were targeted and killed "solely because they shed light on the atrocities of the Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza."

A total of 208 journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, local authorities said Monday.

The Israeli army launched a surprise aerial campaign on the Gaza Strip on March 18, killing at least 730 people and injuring nearly 1,200 others despite a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.

More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 113,200 injured in a brutal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza since October 2023.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.