<\/p>\n
To learn more about Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council and the Question of Palestine, click here to visit the dedicated webpage.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n 25 November 2024<\/p>\n GENEVA\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 UN experts* today called on the Israeli authorities to facilitate without further delay the medical evacuation of\u00a0Al Jazeera<\/em>\u00a0journalist Fadi Al-Wahidi, who was critically injured while covering the conflict in Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cAl-Wahidi has the right to receive urgent medical care and Israel has an obligation under international law to facilitate that right, but despite his life-threatening medical condition, the lack of medical facilities in Gaza, and urgent and repeated appeals from his doctors, his family and various press and journalists\u2019 organisations, Israeli authorities continue to refuse to allow his evacuation,\u201d said the experts.<\/p>\n Al-Wahidi was shot in the neck while reporting from Jabalia refugee camp on 9 October 2024, resulting in paralysis and severe neurological and respiratory injuries. Due to the collapse of medical facilities in Gaza and the ongoing military assault, he is unable to receive the medical care he needs there.<\/p>\n After repeated requests, another Al Jazeera cameraman, Ali Al-Attar, who was severely injured in an Israeli airstrike while reporting in Deir al-Balah on 7 October 2024, was finally allowed by the Israeli authorities to be evacuated to Jordan on 20 November 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cWe welcome the evacuation of Al-Attar and call on Israel to also agree to Al-Wahidi\u2019s evacuation,\u201d said the experts.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has not been lost on us that both Al-Wahidi and Al-Attar are employed by\u00a0Al Jazeera<\/em>, and we want to express our serious concern at Israel\u2019s unrelenting campaign against\u00a0Al Jazeera<\/em>, including the banning of the outlet, the raid on its office in Ramallah, targeted killing of its journalists and media workers and smear campaigns to discredit and endanger them,\u201d said the experts.<\/p>\n The experts note that since 7 October 2023, 182 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in Israeli strikes, 17 of whom are women, while two remain missing.<\/p>\n \u201cThe killing of Palestinian journalists, their persistent arbitrary arrest and detentions, the continued ban on independent media access into Gaza, persistent internet shutdowns, the destruction of media outlets, and displacement of the Gaza media community, have severely restricted reporting on the war and hampered documentation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe denial of medical evacuation or delays in approving requests seem to be part of the overall pattern of persecution, threats and attacks by Israel on journalists in the occupied Palestinian territory in blatant defiance of its international obligations. We condemn it wholeheartedly. Access to medical care must not become a weapon to intimidate and silence journalists or anyone that sheds light on the situation in Gaza,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n \u201cStates that pride themselves as champions of media freedom must not remain silent. They should use all means of influence at their disposal to ensure that Israel cease such practices and respect the basic humanitarian norms, pending the complete cessation of hostilities in Gaza and beyond.<\/p>\n \u201cThe immediate evacuation of Fadi Al-Wahidi is a humanitarian imperative and an international obligation; we urge Israel to facilitate his evacuation immediately without further delay,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n They have raised this case with the Israeli Government.<\/p>\n *The experts:\u00a0Irene Khan<\/strong>,\u00a0UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression<\/a><\/em>;\u00a0Francesca Albanese<\/strong>,<\/a><\/em>\u00a0Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967<\/a><\/em>;\u00a0Tlaleng Mofokeng<\/strong>,\u00a0Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To learn more about Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council and the Question of Palestine, click here to visit the dedicated webpage. 25 November 2024 GENEVA\u00a0\u2013 UN experts* today called on the Israeli authorities to facilitate without further delay the medical evacuation of\u00a0Al Jazeera\u00a0journalist Fadi Al-Wahidi, who was critically injured while covering […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[5990,6822,6854],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1769,2005,2533,1741,6644],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-303740","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-press-release","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-promotion-and-protection-of-the-right-to-freedom-of-opinion-and-expression","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-right-of-everyone-to-the-enjoyment-of-the-highest-attainable-standard-of-physical-and-mental-health","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-in-the-palestinian-territories-occupied-since-1967","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-health","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-media-journalists","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/303740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/303740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":304336,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/303740\/revisions\/304336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=303740"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=303740"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=303740"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=303740"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=303740"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=303740"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=303740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}