Al Jazeera to refer killing of cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa in Gaza to International Criminal Court

Al Jazeera is preparing a legal file to send to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over what it called "the assassination" of one of its cameramen in Gaza, the Qatari-based network said on Saturday.

The cameraman, Samer Abu Daqqa, was killed by an Israeli drone strike on Friday while reporting on the earlier bombing of a school used as a shelter for displaced people in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Qatar-based broadcaster.

Al Jazeera said Israeli drones fired missiles at the school that left Abu Daqqa with fatal injuries. 

"The Network established a joint working group, which comprises of its international legal team and international legal experts who will collaboratively initiate the process of compiling a comprehensive file for submission to the court's prosecutor," Al Jazeera said in a statement.

"The legal file will also encompass recurrent attacks on the Network's crews working and operating in the occupied Palestinian territories and instances of incitement against them."

Commenting on the incident, the Israeli army said in a statement it has "never, and will never" deliberately target journalists. It also said that remaining in an active combat zone during exchanges of fire "has inherent risks".

Israel however, has killed at least 56 Palestinian journalists and media staff since the start of Israel's relentless onslaught on the Gaza Strip on October 7, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Three Lebanese journalists were also killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, including Reuters' Issam Abdallah. Six reporters were also wounded in the incident on October 13 by firing two shells in quick succession from Israel while the journalists were filming cross-border shelling,

Meanwhile, Israel's military onslaught has killed over 19,000 Palestinians, including thousands of women and children.