Published on 03 December 2012, by M. Tomazy.
In a letter to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the watchdog said it was "gravely concerned that Israeli airstrikes targeted individual journalists and media facilities in the Gaza Strip between November 18 and 20."
In a letter to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the watchdog said it was "gravely concerned that Israeli airstrikes targeted individual journalists and media facilities in the Gaza Strip between November 18 and 20."
The New York based CPJ noted that two cameramen for Hamas's al-Aqsa television station and the director of the private Al-Quds Educational Radio were killed by the Zionist army during its eight-day military campaign to halt rocket fire from Gaza.
At least three media buildings, including one housing AFP's Gaza office, were hit during the conflict.
"Israeli officials have broadly asserted that the individuals and facilities had connections to terrorist activity but have disclosed no substantiation for these very serious allegations," the letter reads.
"We request your government provide an immediate and detailed explanation for its actions," CPJ executive director Joel Simon wrote.
Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev said Israel would reply to the CPJ's letter via its US ambassador.
"There were a number of situations where terrorist operatives used journalists as human shields, in those cases we acted as surgically as humanly possible," he allegedly said.
CPJ said all journalists "regardless of the perspective from which they report" were entitled to protection under international law.
"The Israeli government does not have the right to selectively define who is and who is not a journalist based on national identity or media affiliation," the group wrote.
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Source: Part of the text from al-Manar website
