Medics attending to a Palestinian journalists after he was shot and injured by Israeli army gunfire while covering the Gaza border protests. 

RAMALLAH, May 5, 2018 (WAFA) – The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) Saturday called on the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) to investigate what it described as Israeli crimes against Palestinian journalists, particularly those covering the protests at the Gaza border with Israel.

The PJS urged the IFJ to send a fact-finding mission to the occupied Palestinian territories to investigate Israeli targeting of journalists in Gaza.

It said five more journalists were injured while covering the Friday border protests when Israeli soldiers directly targeted them with gunfire and tear gas.

Two Gaza journalists, Yasser Murtaja and Ahmad Abu Hussein, were killed since the start of the protests on March 30 from Israeli army gunfire. Dozens others were shot and injured or suffered from tear gas inhalation.

The PJS held the Israeli government responsible for the attacks against journalists and urged international rights groups and the IFJ to send a professional team to investigate “the crimes of the occupation and to its suppressive acts.”

The PJS is planning a peaceful event at the northern Ramallah Israeli military checkpoint on Sunday as part of marking the World Press Freedom Day, which coincided on May 3, to protest Israeli army targeting of journalists.

M.K.