Two prominent pro-Palestinian NGOs have filed a formal complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against senior members of the Israeli army over the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues.
The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) announced on Monday that they had lodged complaints against Israel’s Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, Air Force Commander Tomer Bar, and Avichay Adraee, the military's Arabic-language spokesperson.
Also named in the complaint are Yossi Sariel, former commander of Unit 8200, and Yaniv Asor, head of the Southern Command. Three other unnamed military and political officials were also included.
"The joint submission to the ICC does not mince words. It accuses the identified military and political figures of war crimes under Article 8(2)(a)(i) of the Rome Statute, and genocide under Article 6(a) of the Rome Statute," HRF said in a statement on Monday.
The organisation urged the ICC to issue arrest warrants for those named, to expand Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s existing arrest warrant to include crimes against journalists, and to formally add the killing of all journalists in Gaza to the ICC’s Palestine investigation.
"The evidence is there. The legal foundation is unshakable. The jurisdiction is established beyond question. What remains is for the International Criminal Court to move past statements of “grave concern” and take the decisive step that justice demands: act," the foundation stressed.
HRF said its investigation focused on the chain of command and operational orders that led to the journalists’ killing, while PCHR examined similar attacks on other Al Jazeera reporters. Both concluded that the killings followed patterns of premeditation and deliberate targeting, mirroring the circumstances of al-Sharif’s death.
Both organisations also pointed to smear campaigns against al-Sharif, led by Adraee throughout the war, labelling him a "terrorist" without any supporting evidence. Israel maintained this accusation in its justification for the killing - a claim strongly rejected by both al-Sharif and Al Jazeera.
On Sunday, Israeli air strikes hit the tents of the Al Jazeera journalists near the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in eastern Gaza City, killing al-Sharif, fellow correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal, freelance camera operator Moamen Aliwa, and journalist Mohammed al-Khalidi.
The killings have drawn global condemnation, with major human rights groups calling the incident a war crime in violation of international law. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an independent investigation.
Al Jazeera, press freedom groups, international journalists, and Palestinian authorities have described the incident as a deliberate assassination aimed at silencing Palestinian coverage of Israeli atrocities. Al-Sharif had become one of Gaza’s most prominent journalists since the start of the war, documenting Israel's military offensive and starvation tactics.
According to Gaza's media office, at least 238 journalists have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since the war began 22 months ago.
Since its founding in 2024, the Hind Rajab Foundation has pursued the arrest of several Israeli officials and soldiers worldwide for alleged war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza.
The group is named after Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who survived an attack by an Israeli tank that killed her entire family, before being killed by Israeli machine gunfire hours later, while on the phone to the Red Crescent.
An ambulance sent to rescue her, in coordination with Israeli forces, was also destroyed, with the two medics dispatched to the scene also killed.
Those named include Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar and Lieutenant Colonel Beni Aharon, accused of responsibility for the killing of six-year-old Hind Rajab in January 2024. The organisation was established in her memory by Belgian-Lebanese activists Dyab Abou Jahjah and Karim Hassoun.