LONDON: The number of Palestinian journalists detained by Israel since the start of the war in Gaza in October now stands at a record high of 80, a Palestinian human rights organization said on Sunday.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said that of those arrested, at least 49 are still being held, compared with 45 in April.
“The occupation authorities continue to escalate the policy of arresting journalists, in addition to threatening them, field attacks, detention and ongoing prosecution, in light of the continued genocidal war against our people in Gaza,” the organization said.
It added that several journalists are being held without charge or trial under the Israeli policy of administrative detention, including three of the four women in custody. A fifth woman, Somaya Jawabra, who was arrested while seven months pregnant, has been under house arrest since November and remains subject to strict restrictions.
PPS described the treatment of journalists as typical of the “revenge and punitive measures imposed on prisoners and detainees in general” by Israeli authorities, including “torture and humiliation, starvation and systematic medical crimes.”
The organization also said that two journalists in the West Bank, Bilal Al-Taweel and Mahmoud Fatafta, were arrested while Israeli authorities “complete their investigations,” and their detentions have been extended until June 9.
PPS called on the UN and international human rights organizations to live up to their responsibilities to address allegations of crimes committed by the Israeli regime against Palestinian detainees.
In a related development, the official Palestinian Authority news agency, Wafa, said Israeli authorities arrested one of its employees, Rasha Harzallah, in the West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday.
“The Israeli occupation intelligence agency summoned her for questioning at a detention center in the Ariel settlement,” the agency said, quoting the journalist’s family.
“She went there with a lawyer and upon their arrival she was informed that she would be detained for 72 hours, without informing her of the reasons or bringing any charges against her.”
US-based media watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists has said at least 107 journalists and other media representatives have been killed during the conflict in Gaza, the vast majority of them Palestinians.
Several nongovernmental organizations allege that although most of the deaths are tragic consequences of war, in some cases Israeli forces appeared to have deliberately targeted media workers in Gaza. If this was confirmed, such actions could be investigated as war crimes, a demand that has already been made by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
