Since the October 7, 2023, attack in southern Israel orchestrated by Hamas, seventy-five Palestinian journalists and media professionals have been detained by Israel’s security forces in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. According to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS), 20 of them have been placed under administrative detention; 49 of them remain behind bars as of right now. The unprecedented number of journalists detained without cause as part of Israel’s larger effort to scare and discourage them from covering the military occupation worries the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) demands that Israel stop persecuting Palestinian journalists and promptly and unconditionally free them all.
On March 19, 2024, during a raid on Rula Hassanein’s home in Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem, in the occupied West Bank, Israeli security forces detained the Palestinian woman journalist and took her phone and laptop. Renowned for her reporting on human rights abuses and the Israeli occupation, Hassanein was forced to leave her nine-month-old child with her husband.
Only one of the 75 journalists who Israel has detained since the start of the Gaza War is the narrative of Hassanein. After October 7, Israel’s security forces increased the number of Palestinian journalists they were detaining without bringing charges.
“The goal of Israel’s stepped-up campaign and detentions is to discourage journalists and divert them from speaking for the Palestinian people.” PJS deputy head Omar Nazzal told Al Jazeera, “The Israelis are adamant that they will control the story coming out of the West Bank.”
Nazzal stated, “Another goal is to intimidate other journalists by establishing the impression that anyone who tries to speak will be their next target.”
Twenty Palestinian journalists are now registered by the PJS as being under administrative detention, a practice that permits the Israeli military to detain detainees without charge or trial for an unlimited period of time based on classified intelligence. Press freedom organizations claim that since the beginning of the Gaza War, Israel has increased the use of administrative detention as a means of suppressing dissenting opinions, including those of journalists.
“Israel’s overreaching campaign to harass and prosecute Palestinian journalists in the occupied West Bank is unacceptable and a clear attempt to silence media reporting on the ground,” stated IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger. We demand that Israel’s security forces cease impeding journalists’ efforts and denounce the growing harassment of journalists by them. To make sure that violence against journalists never goes unpunished, we will step up our activities in tandem with the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, our affiliate.
Since the start of the Gaza conflict, at least 102 Palestinian journalists and media professionals have perished, according to IFJ data.
