Ramallah, November 02 (QNA) - The lack of international accountability for the crimes and acts of violence perpetrated by the Israeli occupation army against journalists in Palestine, which have amounted to mediacide, invariably deepens impunity and condones further crimes, the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate (PJS) said.

In a statement Monday marking the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, PJS called for international protection for Palestinian journalists, stressing that this year's occasion comes amid a profoundly dangerous Palestinian reality in which journalists have been direct targets of murder, traumatization, detention and dehumanization in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip at the hands of Israeli occupation soldiers and Israeli settlers.

In this context, PJS welcomed the report by Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, entitled Truth Under the Rubble: Media in the Time of Genocide, which she submitted to the UN General Assembly in July 2026.

The report describes "mediacide" as the systematic destruction of the media's public function, extending beyond the targeting of journalists to the destruction of media institutions and telecommunications infrastructure and the suppression of Palestinian voices.

As such, PJS called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to disclose the concrete judicial steps it has taken in response to complaints filed against those responsible for crimes committed against Palestinian journalists.

The Permanent Commission of Inquiry of the UN Human Rights Council also called for the referral of its investigative findings to the ICC and urged the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to establish a committee to monitor efforts to hold those responsible for the killing of Palestinian journalists accountable.

PJS stressed that the continued absence of international accountability poses the greatest threat, amid the inability to take substantive action to put an end to Israeli crimes and ensure that their perpetrators are taken to task. It underscored that impunity encourages further crimes and poses a threat to press freedom worldwide.

The Palestinian syndicate called on the international community to translate its declared rhetoric into concrete legal and political commitments and measures that ensure justice, redress for victims and preclude the recurrence of such crimes.

It also called for an independent and serious international probe into the killing of Palestinian journalists and the targeting of media workers, and for those responsible to be held accountable before the competent international courts.

PJS further urged the international community to operationalize international justice mechanisms and ensure that those responsible aren't allowed to evade criminal accountability under any pretext or political pressure, while providing international protection for Palestinian journalists.

PJS also called for the prosecution of crimes committed against journalists in Israeli jails, including arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment. (QNA)