Israel deliberately targeted Hamas-run media installations
in its bombing campaign on Gaza and is practising media censorship,
a journalist rights group said Monday.
The installations in question include Al-Aqsa television,
Al-Resalah newspaper and Sawt Al-Aqsa radio, which the Israeli
army bombed on December 28 and over the weekend respectively,
the Geneva-based Press Emblem Campaign said in a statement,
citing a Palestinian media non-governmental group.
The press group, which fights for better protection of journalists
in conflict zones, also condemned the recent deaths of two
journalists as a result of Israeli attacks.
"Two Palestinian journalists were killed one in previous
attacks by Israel, photographer Hamza Shahin,who died on 26
December 2008, and another during the current military round
on 3 January, Omar Silawi.
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"The current attacks against Palestinian journalists
remind the media community of the attacks that were committed
by Israel against Lebanese media in the July-August war 2006,"
the press group said, referring to the conflict between Israel
and Lebanon's Hezbollah militia.
It called for Israel to allow non-Palestinian media access
to Gaza and denounced the military censorship it said journalists
were subjected to in Israel "which questions their ability
to cover objectively the conflict from the Israeli side."
The Geneva group called for an independent international
probe to look into alleged rights violations during the conflict.