Al Jazeera Files Suit at International Criminal Court over Journalist’s Killing

Exterior view of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022, where Al Jazeera presented a letter requesting a formal investigation into the fatal shototing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. (AP)
Exterior view of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022, where Al Jazeera presented a letter requesting a formal investigation into the fatal shototing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. (AP)
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Al Jazeera Files Suit at International Criminal Court over Journalist’s Killing

Exterior view of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022, where Al Jazeera presented a letter requesting a formal investigation into the fatal shototing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. (AP)
Exterior view of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022, where Al Jazeera presented a letter requesting a formal investigation into the fatal shototing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. (AP)

Al Jazeera on Tuesday said it has submitted to the International Criminal Court the case of the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot during an Israeli raid in the West Bank in May. 

The submission followed an investigation by the television news network's legal team, Al Jazeera said on Twitter. 

The ICC must identify the individuals who were directly involved Abu Akleh's killing, Al Jazeera lawyer Rodney Dixon KC told a news conference in The Hague on Tuesday. 

"The rulings of the International Criminal Court stipulate that those responsible be investigated and held accountable. Otherwise, they bear the same responsibility as if they were the ones who opened fire," Dixon said. 

The circumstances of Abu Akleh's killing are disputed. 

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said on Tuesday that no one would question Israeli soldiers. 

"No one will interrogate Israeli soldiers and no one will preach to us about morals of combat, certainly not the Al Jazeera network," Lapid said. 



WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization is sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples, its chief said on Friday.

"While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an opinion piece in Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

He wrote that children under five were most at risk from the viral disease, and especially infants under two since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by more than nine months of conflict.

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Cases of polio have declined by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns and efforts continue to eradicate it completely.

Israel's military said on Sunday it would start offering the polio vaccine to soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip after remnants of the virus were found in test samples in the enclave.

Besides polio, the UN reported last week a widespread increase in cases of Hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis as sanitary conditions deteriorate in Gaza, with sewage spilling into the streets near some camps for displaced people.