Families and relatives of 11 journalists martyred while covering Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling on various neighborhoods in southern Lebanon have demanded that Israeli authorities be tried before the ICC for war crimes perpetrated against the members of the press.
During a memorial service dubbed “Martyrs of the Word and Image” at the Lebanese National Theater in the capital Beirut on Friday, journalists and media professionals who were killed while performing their duties and providing field coverage of events in Lebanon were honored.
The event was attended by a crowd of journalists and representatives of local and Arab media outlets, alongside the families of the victims and political and cultural figures.
The organizers set up panels featuring pictures of the victims in their press vests, along with evocative theatrical scenes commemorating moments of vicious Israeli attacks and the resilience of their lost loved ones.
The families of the journalists underscored their determination to continue their legal and judicial efforts until justice is achieved, stressing their commitment to demanding the rights of their loved ones to ensure that the perpetrators do not escape punishment, and that their cause will remain ongoing and will not fade with the passage of time.
A spokesperson for the bereaved families confirmed that they are continuing to collect documents and field testimonies in order to compile a comprehensive legal file of circumstantial evidence.
The file will then be submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to refute Israeli narratives and prove the direct targeting of media teams as they were performing their professional duties.
For his part, the representative of the Lebanese Editors Syndicate called for serious Arab and international action to push for accountability, stressing that the assassination of journalists in Lebanon, the besieged Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank should not go unpunished.
Back in late April, Lebanon’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva urged the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk to intervene on Israel’s killing of 28 Lebanese journalists since 2023.
Ambassador Caroline Ziadeh wrote in a letter that Lebanon’s Information Ministry documented “a series of successive Israeli attacks targeting journalists,” describing them as part of “a broader and deeply concerning pattern of attacks on civilians, including clearly identifiable media professionals performing their duties.”
“These acts constitute grave violations of International Humanitarian Law,” said Ziadeh, citing protections under the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols, as well as the Rome Statute.
She stressed that since October 13, 2023, “Israeli military actions have resulted in the deaths of 28 Lebanese journalists, including correspondents, photojournalists, and cameramen, without any accountability to date.”
“Ziadeh added that Israel “should be compelled to cease these violations and comply fully with its obligations under International Humanitarian Law.”
