LONDON: An “unprecedented” total of 51 arrests of journalists in Palestine have been documented by the Committee to Protect Journalists since the start of Israel’s onslaught on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, the press rights NGO said on Wednesday.
CPJ said that the arrests took place in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with 48 journalists detained by Israel and three by the Palestinian authorities.
Fifteen of the journalists, including those held by the Palestinian authorities, have been released, while 36 remain in Israel’s custody.
Moreover, 15 of those arrested by Israel are being held under administrative detention without charges. This form of detention can last from six months to years.
However, the number of Palestinian journalists in Israeli prisons is likely higher than what CPJ has documented due to the increasing difficulty of acquiring and verifying data during wartime.
“Since October 7, Israel has been arresting Palestinian journalists in record numbers and using administrative detention to keep them behind bars, thus depriving the region not only of much-needed information, but also of Palestinian voices on the conflict,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna in New York.
“If Israel wants to live up to its self-styled reputation of being the only democracy in the Middle East, it needs to release detained Palestinian journalists and stop using military courts to hold them without evidence.”
Currently imprisoned journalists include Rasha Hirzallah, a reporter for the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency WAFA; Mahmoud Fatafta, a columnist and political commentator; Bilal Hamid Al-Taweel, who contributes to multiple outlets such as Al-Jazeera; Mahmoud Adel Ma’atan Barakat, a radio producer for the Wattan Media Network; and freelance journalist Rula Hassanein.
Released journalists include Khalil Dweeb, a freelance camera operator; Ahmed Al-Bitawi, a reporter for Sanad News Agency; Maher Haroun, a freelance journalist and media student at Al-Quds Open University; and Ismail Al-Ghoul, an Al-Jazeera correspondent.
Neither Israel’s domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet nor the Palestinian General Intelligence Service have replied to CPJ’s requests for comment about those arrested.
CPJ documented in 2023 the imprisonment of 17 Palestinian journalists by Israeli authorities, saying that it was the highest number of media arrests in Israel and the Palestinian territories since CPJ began tracking jailed journalists in 1992.
