RAMALLAH, Palestine / ISTANBUL

The Palestinian National Council, the highest decision-making body of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), called Sunday for the protection of journalists amid Israeli attacks on reporters in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

“The Israeli occupation is fully responsible for its crimes against journalists,” the council said in a statement on the eve of the Arab Media Day.

“Assaults against journalists are a deliberate attempt to silence the voice of Palestine, and annihilate its narrative,” it added.

At least 211 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, according to Palestinian figures.

“This year’s anniversary comes amid the deadliest chapters of contemporary Palestinian history, where our people have been subjected to more than 18 months of fascist and organized terrorist aggression,” the council said.

It said that Palestinian journalists have become “the direct targets of the warplanes and missiles, in a flagrant violation of all humanitarian laws.”

"These crimes are being committed amid suspicious international silence and in flagrant defiance of international resolutions, notably the 4th Geneva Convention of 1949, which stipulates the protection of civilians, including journalists, during wars,” the council said.

More than 51,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants 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.