PARIS, May 17. /TASS/. Israeli attacks on media outlets in the Gaza Strip may constitute war crimes, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Secretary General Christophe Deloire said, as cited by the organization’s press service.

According to him, "deliberately targeting media outlets constitutes a war crime." "By intentionally destroying media outlets, the Israel Defense Forces are not only inflicting unacceptable material damage on news operations. They are also, more broadly, obstructing media coverage of a conflict that directly affects the civilian population. We call on the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor to determine whether these airstrikes constitute war crimes," the RSF secretary general pointed out.

According to the RSF, "targeted Israeli air force attacks have destroyed the premises of 23 Palestinian and international media outlets in the past week." "The latest airstrikes destroyed the bureau of the US news agency, the Associated Press, and the Qatari TV broadcaster Al Jazeera. According to the Israeli military, these attacks were justified because the "military intelligence" wing of Hamas, the Gaza Strip’s ruling Islamist movement, had equipment in these building," the organization added.

The exchange of rocket fire between Israel and the Gaza Strip, which has been going on since May 10, was triggered by riots in East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque. Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police officers erupted after an Israeli court had ruled to evict several Palestinian families from the city’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and hand the property over to Jewish settlers. Israeli media outlets reported on Thursday that at least seven Israelis had been killed in rocket attacks. According to latest data, at least ten Israelis and over 210 Palestinians have been killed.