Ms Chantal Joris:

One of the things I can think of to concretely keep up the pressure is to work through accountability mechanisms such as the ICC and ICJ.

If we look at Gaza specifically, it does seem like this is something about which Israel is concerned. They sent their best lawyers to the ICJ proceedings, for example. They announced an intervention perhaps on behalf of South Africa. Linked also is the committing of grave international law violations and how this is linked again to the killings of journalists, but also this broader sense of censorship measures, such as the Internet shutdowns, not allowing access to independent and international journalists and banning Al Jazeera. All these measures combined, as well as this cloak of impunity, contribute to this level of impunity. So far, we think accountability mechanisms have not necessarily paid enough attention to this link between closing the information space and what impact this can have on the commission on further human rights and humanitarian law violations.

Of course, we think that if these measures – the killing of journalists together with the other measures I mentioned – go without accountability now, of course it will be very difficult then in another conflict. We have seen double standards by many countries already. They advocate for something in one conflict - say, Ukraine - and say nothing when it comes to Gaza. This can set a very negative precedent and also undermine the role of these states that like to call themselves champions of freedom of expression and human rights if they do not push for better protection in Gaza now.