Journalists in Brussels gather in solidarity with colleagues killed in Gaza
Belgian, European and international media organisations gathered on Tuesday at the Mont des Arts in Brussels to express their support for journalists killed by the Israeli army in Gaza.
The gathering of around 400 people follows the recent killings of journalists including Anas al-Sharif. He was working in the Gaza Strip for Al Jazeera when he was killed by an Israeli air strike on Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on 10 August. Four other journalists died in the same strike.
On Monday, five journalists working for Reuters, Al Jazeera and AP were killed in an attack on the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it “a tragic mishap”.
“Yesterday, five more victims were added to the already more than 200 journalists killed in Gaza," the organisers of the gathering said.
"The attacks on journalists expose a deliberate strategy by the Israeli government to silence independent reporting, prevent the documentation of crimes and sow fear within journalism. This is not ‘collateral damage’, but a deliberate attack on press freedom and the fundamental right to witness atrocities.”
After a series of speeches, the names of 219 journalists who have been killed were read out, followed by a minute’s silence.
The organisations present included the Flemish Association of Journalists and its French-speaking counterpart, the European Federation of Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists, the Palestinian Journalists’ Union and the International Press Association.
© BELGA PHOTO / VIDEO JAMES ARTHUR GEKIERE
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