As of July 1, CPJ has documented a total of 51 arrests of journalists in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza and in the city of Jerusalem, claimed by both Israel and the Palestinians as a capital, since the war began on October 7, 2023. Israel arrested 48; Palestinian authorities arrested three.

Fifteen of these journalists, including the three held by Palestinian authorities, have since been released, while 36 remain under arrest.

At least 15 of the journalists arrested by Israel are being held under administrative detention, a policy under which a military commander may detain an individual without charge, typically for six months, on the grounds of preventing them from committing a future offense. Detention can be extended an unlimited number of times.

(Editor’s note: These numbers are being updated regularly as more information becomes available.)

However, the number of journalists behind bars may be higher than CPJ’s records show as it has become increasingly difficult to verify information during the war. Due process is failing, with lawyers and families often unable to find out why journalists have been arrested.

CPJ is still working to research, document, and verify reports about the arrest of at least 28 other journalists in Gaza and the West Bank not included in this list. (Read more here about our methodology.)

Neither Israel’s domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet, nor the Palestinian General Intelligence Service replied to CPJ’s emailed requests for comment about those arrested.

List of arrests

Rasha Hirzallah

On June 2, Israeli security forces detained Rasha Hirzallah, a reporter for the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency WAFA, after she was summoned for questioning to the police station at Ariel, an Israeli settlement about 28 kilometers (17 miles) south of the West Bank city of Nablus, according to news reports, and Hirzallah’s brother Osama, who spoke to CPJ.

The police told Hirzallah and her lawyer that she would be detained for 72 hours, Osama said.

Hirzallah is under investigation for incitement and will be transferred to Hasharon Prison, north of the Israeli port city of Tel Aviv, on June 3, and appear in court on June 6, Amani Sarahneh, spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, which supports prisoners in jails, told CPJ.

On her social media accounts for X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram, Hirzallah prominently features her brother Mohammed Hirzallah, who died in November 2022 after being shot in the head during clashes with Israeli security forces in July that year. 

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Mahmoud Fatafta

On May 29, Israeli security forces arrested Mahmoud Fatafta, a Palestinian columnist and political commentator, at an Israel Defense Forces checkpoint, near the West Bank village of Abu Dis as he was driving with his son to the town of Tarqumiyah, 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) northwest of Hebron, according to news reports, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and the Palestinian press freedom group MADA.    

According to the same reports and Fatafta’s brother Hassan, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app on May 29, Fatafta’s 10-year-old son was left at the checkpoint until a relative came from Ramallah to pick him up.

Fatafta, who is also a professor of politics and media at the Arab American University in Ramallah and the Palestinian Technical University Khadoury, often appears on TV and radio to comment on the ongoing war in Gaza and regularly contributes columns and commentary to the Wattan Media Network, among other outlets. On the May 15 anniversary of the Nakba,  the mass displacement of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, Fatafta wrote a column accusing Israel of denying the existence of the Nakba and saying that Palestinians will no longer be victims of weakness and marginalization.   

Fatafta also provides commentary on his personal Facebook account, which has nearly 5,000 followers. The last post prior to his arrest included a quote by Egyptian scholar Abdul Wahab al-Mesiri and read “the more brutal the colonizer becomes, the nearer his end is.”     

On May 30, Fatafta’s wife, Rasha, told CPJ via messaging app that her husband was being held at a police station in the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, in east Jerusalem, and that a hearing will be held on June 2 about his Facebook posts.  

STATUS: Currently imprisoned  

Bilal Hamid al-Taweel

On May 29, Israeli security forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Bilal Hamid al-Taweel, who contributes to several media outlets including the Qatari-funded broadcaster Al Jazeera, at his home in the West Bank city of Hebron, according to news reports, footage of his arrest posted on social media by the Palestinian news outlet Al-Qastal and the journalist’s brother Hamad al-Taweel, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

The video posted by Al-Qastal on its X account shows two Israeli soldiers taking Al-Taweel, who is blindfolded and handcuffed, to an armored military vehicle.  

Hamad al-Taweel told CPJ that the soldiers seized his brother’s phone and that he currently works for AlJazeera. Al-Taweel is also very active on Facebook and Instagram, where he posts commentary and videos of the war in Gaza. The reason for his arrest remains unknown. 

According to CPJ research, Israeli forces arrested al-Taweel in June 2018. He was released ten days later, according to news reports. 

STATUS: currently imprisoned

Mahmoud Adel Ma’atan Barakat

On May 19, Israeli security forces arrested Palestinian journalist Mahmoud Adel Ma’atan Barakat, a radio producer and editor for the Wattan Media Network, at his home in the village of Burqa, 5 kilometers (3 miles) west of the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to news reports and his brother Muthana, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app on May 19.

Muthana Ma’atan Barakat told CPJ that nearly 50 Israeli soldiers arrived at the family house in Burqa at around 2 a.m. and soldiers and an officer working for the Shin Bet entered the house and seized his brother`s cell phone and laptop.

“The Shin Bet officer told my mother that Mahmoud was arrested for incitement. They subsequently took my brother outside, handcuffed his hands and legs and took him away,” Muthana Barakat said, adding that his brother was being held in Ofer Prison, 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) southwest of Ramallah.

Muamar Orabi, general director of the Wattan Media Network, told CPJ via messaging app on May 19 that Barakat works there as an editor and radio producer.

In recent months, Barakat posted footage on his Facebook and Instagram accounts of Israeli soldiers conducting operations in Burqa, a town east of Ramallah, and photos of the February resignation of the Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.      

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Khalil Dweeb

Two Palestinian General Intelligence Service agents arrested Khalil Dweeb, a freelance camera operator who contributes to the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, on April 16 after he was summoned to a police station to pick up his cell phone, according to news reports and the journalist’s lawyer, Mohannad Karajah, who spoke to CPJ. Police had seized Dweeb’s phone some time ago, Karajah said.

The Bethlehem prosecutor’s office initially extended Dweeb’s detention for 24 hours to complete the investigation into allegations from the prosecutor’s office that Dweeb was in possession of an illegal weapon, according to Karajah and an April 18 statement from the independent Palestinian legal support group Lawyers for Justice.

The magistrate’s court in Bethlehem on April 18 extended Dweeb’s detention for five days at the request of the prosecution, according to those reports. In their statement, the Lawyers for Justice said Dweeb’s arrest was related to his work as a journalist.

Dweeb has been reporting on the West Bank for Al Jazeera. In March, he covered clashes between Palestinian resistance fighters and the Israeli Army in Nablus, the Israeli forces’ killing of a Palestinian resistance fighter near Tulkarem, and the effects of Israeli raids in Tulkarem’s Nur Shams refugee camp. Previously, Dweeb contributed footage to the local radio station Radio Bethlehem 2000 and J-Media Network news agency.

He was released on April 23, 2024.

STATUS: Released

Ahmed al-Bitawi

On March 29, Palestinian General Intelligence Service agents arrested Ahmed al-Bitawi, a reporter for Sanad News Agency, in the Palestinian West Bank city of Nablus while he was reporting on a march in support of Gaza, according to news reports and the journalist’s lawyer Ibrahim al-Amer, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app. The next day, al-Bitawi was transferred to Al-Junaid Prison in Nablus, those sources said.

On April 1, a trial court in Nablus extended al-Bitawi’s detention for 15 days, according to Sanad News Agency, the Beirut-based press freedom organization SKeyes, and the journalist’s lawyer Ibrahim al-Amer, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app.

Al-Amer said that al-Bitawi’s detention had been extended on charges of possession of an illegal weapon and receiving money from illegal organizations. He rejected the allegations as false and said his client had been arrested because of his work as a journalist, without providing any further details.

“There is no evidence to support these claims against him. His detention could be extended for several months without having to present any evidence against him,” al-Amer told CPJ.

Al-Bitwawi’s brother told CPJ via messaging app that he was released on April 8.

STATUS: Released

Rula Hassanein

Palestinian freelance journalist Rula Hassanein is currently being held in Damon Prison on charges of incitement on social media and supporting a hostile organization banned under Israeli law, according to the Palestinian press freedom group MADA and court documents, which CPJ has reviewed.

On March 19, Israeli military forces arrested Hassanein, who is also an editor for the Ramallah-based Wattan Media Network, without explanation, at her home in the Al-Ma’asra neighborhood in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, handcuffed and blindfolded her, confiscated her laptop and cell phone, and took her to Damon Prison, near the northern Israeli city of Haifa, according to news reports, the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, and the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes.

On April 3, Judea military court postponed the hearing for the third time, refused to grant bail to Hassanein, and rejected her lawyer’s request that she be released to look after her ailing baby, according to news reports and MADA.  

The court documents accused Hassanein of incitement over her posts, including retweets, on X, formerly Twitter, and Facebook between August 2022 and December 2023, in which she commented on the Israel-Gaza war, including her frustration over the suffering of Palestinians. Hassanein also commented on events in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including the shooting of two Israelis in the northern town of Hawara in August 2023 and the killing of an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint in East Jerusalem in October 2022.

On October 10, 2023, Hassanein retweeted a post on X showing a photograph of her in a sniper’s crosshairs with Hebrew text describing her as a Hamas Nazi journalist living in Ramallah, which she said Israeli setters circulated on social media groups calling for her arrest as part of an incitement campaign against her.

Hassanein’s family are campaigning for her release, saying that her health has deteriorated as a result of poor prison conditions, according to the Palestinian outlet Mada News and MADA.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Imad Ifranji

Palestinian journalist Imad Ifranji, manager of the Gaza bureau of the Jerusalem-based Al-Quds newspaper, has been found to be in Israeli custody after he went missing during Israel’s attack on Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital on March 19, 2024, according to news reports and Ifranji’s son, Musaab, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app on and on June 26.

Musaab told CPJ that, as soon as he found out about the beginning of Israel’s attack on Al-Shifa hospital on March 18, he reached out to his family in Gaza City to inquire about their safety, because the family home was in the vicinity of the hospital and one of his brothers told him that his father was at the hospital with other Palestinian journalists.

According to Musaab, for several hours after the attack the Ifranji family, knew nothing about the fate of his father or of any of the journalists who were at Al-Shifa until a phone call came from his father confirming that he was in one of the hospital’s corridors and saying that if they didn’t hear anything from him within two or three days it would mean that he had either been killed or arrested.

Musaab said that after hearing from his father there was a telecommunications blackout until the early hours of March 20, when he received a text message from his sister urging him not to call because Israeli troops had broken into their home.

Musaab said Israeli security forces stayed at his home for several hours, interrogated and mistreated his brothers and sisters, used his younger brothers as human shields as Israeli troops were withdrawing, ordered the family to leave for the southern Gazan city of Rafah and burned the house to the ground.

On April 15, after nearly a month without any news about the whereabouts or fate of his father, Musaab received a call from a released Palestinian prisoner, who didn’t identify himself, saying that his father was in Israeli custody.

About a month later, Musaab found a picture, published on Twitter by the Israeli-funded Arabic language bulletin Al-Waka, showing his father (third from the left) among other detainees. The caption described them as Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who had been arrested at Al-Shifa Hospital. 

A month ago, the Ifranji family found out through a former prisoner who preferred to remain anonymous that Ifranji was being held at Barkasat detention center in Rafah, Musaab told CPJ, but they couldn’t confirm the whereabouts of his father.

Ifranji is a veteran Palestinian journalist. He previously served as the director of the Gaza office of the Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds TV and has worked for a variety of Palestinian media outlets, including the news websites PalTimes and Felesteen. On June 27, Mohamed Abo Khdair, editor-in-chief of the Al-Quds newspaper, told CPJ that Ifranji used to work as a reporter for the newspaper, before becoming manager of Al-Quds’ Gaza bureau.   

Status: Currently Imprisoned

Maher Haroun

On March 19, Palestinian General Intelligence agents arrested Maher Haroun, a freelance journalist and media student at Al-Quds Open University, while he was covering a pro-Gaza march in the West Bank city of Ramallah and held him for questioning for three days, according to news reports, the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, and Haroun, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app on May 15.

During his detention, Haroun was repeatedly questioned about his work as a journalist and his filming of the protests and was verbally and physically abused, according to MADA. No charges were filed against him and no hearing was held on his case, the same sources said. He was released on March 22.

As a freelance photographer and cameraman, Haroun has contributed footage of protests to some local media outlets, including the broadcasters Palestine TV and AnNajah TV.

STATUS: Released

Walid Zayed

Palestinian journalist Walid Zayed, a reporter and editor for the Qatari-funded broadcaster Al Jazeera Mubasher, is currently being held in Ofer Prison on charges of incitement, according to news reports, the Palestinian press freedom organization MADA, and legal documents that CPJ has reviewed.

On March 18, 2024, Israeli security forces arrested Zayed at his home in Ramallah’s Al-Masayef neighborhood, searched and vandalized the house, seized his computer, his personal cell phone, SIM cards, and journalism equipment and took him away to an unknown destination without giving the reason for his arrest, according to news reports, MADA and SKeyes.

On March 28, the Ofer court extended Zayed’s detention until June 4, according to MADA.   

Legal documents obtained by CPJ show that Zayed is facing incitement charges over a tweet he reposted on his personal X account on October 7, 2023. The tweet includes a video report by the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera showing Palestinians standing on top of a military vehicle and dragging Israeli soldiers to the ground.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Mahmoud Elewa

On Monday, March 18, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a new offensive on the Al-Shifa hospital complex, arresting scores of Palestinians. An unspecified number of journalists, including Mahmoud Elewa, a freelance correspondent for Al Jazeera TV, and Mohamad Arab, a freelance journalist with Al-Araby TV, were among those held, according to multiple news reports. CPJ was unable to confirm further details about other journalists arrested in the raid or where Elewa and Arab are being held.

Arab and Elewa were among the first to report on the hospital raid and the arrest of Al Jazeera reporter Ismail Al-Ghoul on Monday. Al-Ghoul was released after about 12 hours in Israeli custody.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Mohamad Arab

On Monday, March 18, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a new offensive on the Al-Shifa hospital complex, arresting scores of Palestinians. An unspecified number of journalists, including Mahmoud Elewa, a freelance correspondent for Al Jazeera TV, and Mohamad Arab, a freelance journalist with Al-Araby TV, were among those held, according to multiple news reports. CPJ was unable to confirm further details about other journalists arrested in the raid or where Arab and Elewa are being held.

Arab and Elewa were among the first to report on the hospital raid and the arrest of Al Jazeera reporter Ismail Al-Ghoul on Monday. Al-Ghoul was released after about 12 hours in Israeli custody.

On June 19, 2024, lawyer Khaled Mahajneh told Al-Araby TV, which Arab freelanced for before his arrest, that the journalist is being held at the Israeli detention facility Sde Teiman, which multiple media outlets and journalists have said is a facility where Palestinian detainees sometimes are brutally mistreated. The lawyer, who saw the journalist at Sde Teiman, said that Arab didn’t know his location for 100 days of his arrest up until the visit.

The lawyer also relayed Arab’s testimony that said “we face mistreatment and torture all day, including sexual harassment and rape. The beatings and insults never stop.” Arab, in the testimony that was published by media outlets, added that all the detainees, including him, are surrounded by police dogs all the time.

Arab, age 42, also described to the lawyer Mahajneh that the food quality is so low and in low quantities, adding that “every 4 detainees can use the toilets for a total of a minute, and are allowed to shower for one minute a week.”

 Mahajneh told CPJ via messaging app that “Arab was questioned after 40 days of his arrest from Al Shifa hospital, where he reiterated that he’s a journalist working with multiple outlets and accused by soldiers and investigators of being ‘a reporter of information between internal and external Hamas.’” The lawyer said Arab wasn’t treated as a journalist even after he told investigators that he was arrested while doing his job at Al-Shifa. Mahajneh added that Arab was asked about the place where Hamas stores its weapons, which is a question he responded to by saying “I don’t know. I’m a journalist and I was arrested while doing journalism.”

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Ismail Al-Ghoul

On March 18, 2024, Israel Defense Forces soldiers assaulted Al Jazeera Arabic reporter Ismail Al-Ghoul as he reported on a new Israeli offensive on Al-Shifaa Hospital complex in northern Gaza, and then took Al-Ghoul and other journalists to an undisclosed location, according to Al Jazeera, and multiple news reports.

Al-Ghoul was released by Israeli forces on Monday night after being held for almost 12 hours. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Al-Ghoul recounted how he and several other journalists were assaulted by IDF soldiers, whom he said destroyed the journalists’ tent and damaged their equipment and press vehicles. Al-Ghoul said the journalists were ordered to strip off their clothes in the cold weather, and were kept blindfolded and handcuffed in a room at Al-Shifa hospital.  Although Al-Ghoul stated that most of Al Jazeera’s crew was released, he could not confirm the release of every member, as their mobile phones, laptops, and equipment were destroyed by Israeli forces. The release of the journalists followed earlier U.S. State Department inquiries about his detention and calls by organizations including CPJ and Al Jazeera.

STATUS: Released

Rami Abu Zubaida

On March 2, 2024, Israeli security forces arrested Palestinian journalist Rami Abu Zubaida, editor-in-chief of the Palestinian news website 180 Investigations, along with his brother Ibrahim at a checkpoint set at the Hamad Towers area in the southern Gazan city of Khan Yunis, according to Abu Zubaida’s employer and the Beirut-based regional press freedom group SKeyes.

Abu Zubaida’s brother Khaled was cited by SKeyes as saying that Israeli troops surrounded the Hamad Towers residential area and via a drone called on residents to leave the area through a safe corridor amid heavy gunfire and shelling.

“My brother Rami and other residents were surprised that a checkpoint had been set up for those displaced. As he approached the checkpoint, Israeli soldiers arrested him, blindfolded him and my other brother Ibrahim and took them to an unknown destination,” he told SKeyes.

On June 21, Abu Zubaida’s brother, Khaled, told CPJ via messaging app and email that he didn’t know anything about his brothers’ whereabouts for more than 110 days.

“Two days ago, we found out through a lawyer that they were arrested and are being held in the most horrific prison in the world, Sde Teiman (in the Negev Desert). Rami has health problems with his back and we don’t know his current condition. Unfortunately, all the news that comes out from there, either from the news or from released prisoners, are horrible and that increases our concern and fear for them, because we don’t know their fate,” Khaled said.        

According to news reports, mistreatment and the use of torture against Palestinian prisoners are common at the Sde Teiman prison camp. News reports said that Israeli authorities have begun to transfer inmates from Sde Teiman to other prisons following a petition by several human rights organizations to shut down the facility over allegations of severe human rights violations.     

On June 24, Khaled told CPJ via messaging app that a day earlier he had found out through a lawyer that Abu Zubaida had been transferred to Ofer Prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Apart from his work as editor-in-chief of the 180 Investigations, Abu Zubaida also contributes articles to the news website ArabicPost and often provides comment on Israeli-Palestinian political affairs for the Istanbul-based broadcaster Al-Rafidain TV. He used to write for the Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera and the news website Al-Araby al-Jadeed among others.  

STATUS: Currently Imprisoned

Sami Al-Sai

Sami Al-Sai, a reporter for the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera Mubasher and the local broadcaster Al-Fajer TV, is currently being held in administrative detention in Remon prison, according to the Palestinian Commission of Detainee Affairs and a copy of the administrative detention order, which CPJ has reviewed.

On February 23, Israeli troops arrested Al-Sai at his home in Tulkarem’s Artah neighborhood, according to news reports, the Palestinian press freedom organization MADA, and a video of his arrest posted by the Qatari-broadcaster Al Jazeera.

According to MADA, twenty Israeli soldiers raided and vandalized the Al-Sai family home in Tulkarem, handcuffed Al-Sai and his brother Osama with plastic bands and took him away to an unknown destination without informing him of the reason for his arrest.

According to a copy of the administrative detention order that CPJ has reviewed, Al-Sai was placed in administrative detention for four months at a hearing that was held behind closed doors and chaired by military judge Ofer Shvitzer. Al-Sai is due to be released on June 22.

The administrative detention order says that the prosecutor accused Al-Sai of being a member of Hamas and acting to undermine the security of the state and the judge agreed that these reasons were enough to keep him in detention. The defense lawyer demanded that Al-Sai be released for medical reasons, because he donated a kidney to his son and needs medication, but the judge overruled this objection and said that the doctor at the jail said that Al-Sai is healthy enough to remain in prison.

Prior to his arrest, Al-Sai had been covering Israeli military operations in the city of Tulkarem, especially in the Nour Shams refugee camp, for the Jordanian broadcaster Al-Haqeqa al-Dawliya, the Tulkarem-based broadcaster Fajer TV, the radio station Shabab FM, and Al Jazeera Mubasher.

Al-Sai is also the founder and director of the news website Karmul, which provides news about the city of Tulkarem. Al-Sai extensively covered the destruction caused by Israeli military operations in the Nour Shams refugee camp.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Amr Abu Raida

On February 15, Israeli security forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Amr Abu Rida, who contributes to the Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network among others, near Nasser Hospital in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis, according to news reports and the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes.    

Journalist Somaya al-Rumaisa was quoted by SKeyes as saying that Abu Rida was arrested by Israeli forces as he was trying to flee through what was designated as a safe corridor from Khan Younis to the southern city of Rafah.

“We found out that the pretext for his arrest was that he was firing rockets, which is of course not true. Amr was only a journalist and he just relayed the news,” she said.

Abu Raida reported on the situation in Khan Younis and the destruction caused by Israeli airstrikes. On his personal Instagram account, which has over 73,000 followers, Abu Raida also posted videos of mass graves found near Nasser Hospital and videos of casualties caused by Israeli airstrikes.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Hamza al-Safi

Palestinian freelance journalist Hamza al-Safi, who contributes to the Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network and the news website Al-Jarmaq News, among others, is currently being held in Al-Jalama detention center and no indictment had been issued against him, according to the Palestinian Commission of Detainee Affairs and al-Safi’s wife Mariam Shawahna, who spoke to CPJ via phone and messaging app on April 9. 

On February 9, 2024, Israeli security forces stormed into al-Safi’s house in the West Bank city of Tulkarem and arrested him, according to news reports, the Beirut-based press freedom organization SKeyes, and Shawahna.

Shawahna, who is also a journalist and works with her husband, told CPJ that Israeli soldiers broke into the house after midnight, searched it, and seized al-Safi´s photography equipment, two computers, several electronic devices and five cell phones, thus depriving her of the tools she needs to do her job as a journalist.

Shawahna told CPJ that al-Safi and herself work as freelancers contributing footage and other services to programs that air on several local news agencies and TV stations, including the Quds News Network, the news website Al-Jarmaq News, and the TV station Al-Madina. They contributed footage to the Quds News Network’s Al-Masar Program on Tulkarem.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Ali Abu Shariaa

On January 25, Israeli security forces arrested Palestinian journalist Ali Abu Shariaa, head of sports news for the Gaza bureau of the Palestinian national Authority’s funded broadcaster Palestine TV, as he was fleeing the southern Gazan city of Khan Yunis for Rafah and held him for 23 days, according to his employer and Abu Shariaa, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app on June 21 and 23.

Abu Shariaa told CPJ that, after instructing him and thousands of other Palestinians to leave the area in western Khan Yunis where they were staying through a route deemed safe, Israeli security forces arrested him at a checkpoint and seized his belongings, including his passport and money.    

After being ordered to strip and advance toward the soldiers, Abu Sharia was beaten, handcuffed with plastic straps, blindfolded, put on his knees and left out in the cold for hours with other prisoners until they were put on a truck and taken to an unknown location for interrogation, according to Abu Shariaa.

Abu Shariaa told CPJ that although he identified himself as a journalist, and a member of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and the Arab Journalists Union, he was mistreated during interrogation.

“After interrogation, I was transferred to another location where I was again handcuffed and blindfolded and I remained handcuffed and blindfolded for the 23 days of my detention,” Abu Shariaa said.

He added that inmates were deprived of sleep, beaten, verbally abused, and humiliated on a daily basis and that he lost 18 kilos during his imprisonment as a result of the scant food rations. He was released on February 16, 2024.   

STATUS: Released

Amjad Arafat

On January 12, Israeli security forces arrested Palestinian journalist Amjad Arafat, a reporter for the news website Al-Ain News, at his aunt’s house in Al-Maghazi camp in central Gaza, according to the Beirut-based regional press freedom group SKeyes and a Facebook post by his brother Rafat Arafat.  

Arafat’s brother, Rafat, told SKeyes that Israeli security forces broke into the their aunt’s house in Al-Maghazi camp, where Arafat and his family had been displaced from Gaza City, held men and women in different rooms, and eventually arrested Arafat and three other relatives and took them away.

Arafat’s brother told CPJ via messaging app on June 20, 2024, that he hadn’t heard any news about his brother since his arrest and didn’t know where he was.

Arafat covered the impact of the Gaza war for Al-Ain News, including the rising prices of food and price gouging, and the accumulation of waste and garbage on the streets of Gaza resulting from the war. Prior to the war, Arafat also contributed articles to the independent news websites Raseef22 and the Noonpost.  

Status: Currently Imprisoned

Tareq Taha

On January 11, Israeli police arrested Palestinian journalist Tareq Taha, editor at the Haifa-based news website Arab 48, after summoning him for questioning over a post on his personal Instagram account to the police station at the town of Tamra, 28.4 kilometers (17.6 miles) east of Haifa, according to news reports, his employer, and the Israeli daily Haaretz.    

According to Haaretz, Taha posted a video showing a Palestinian flag and the word “resisting” along with a picture of Jewish Israeli civilians carrying weapons. The caption of the picture was written in Arabic and read “academic year brought to you by M16,” referring to the military rifle. According to a CPJ review, the story is no longer available on Taha’s Instagram account, but the Haaretz article shows screenshots of the story. 

As a result of this Instagram story, Taha was arrested on suspicion of incitement, disturbing the public peace, and conspiring to commit an offense, according to Haaretz and his employer.

Taha was held in custody for three days. A  Haifa Magistrate Court judge released him on bail of 5,000 shekels ($1,362) on January 14, placed him under house arrest for five days and banned him from using social media for a week, according to Haaretz, news reports, and Taha’s employer. 

STATUS: Released.

Hamad Taqatqa

Palestinian freelance journalist Hamad Taqatqa, who contributes to the Bethlehem-based radio station Radio Baladna and the news agency Palestine News Network (PNN), among others, is currently being held in Ofer Prison on charges of incitement on social media, supporting a terrorist organization, and influencing public opinion in a way that may harm public order, according to his brother Wael Taqatqa, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app on May 24, and court documents that CPJ has reviewed.

Israeli military forces arrested Taqatqa from his home at the town of Beit Fajjar, 29 kilometers (18 miles) south of Bethlehem, on December 26, 2023, handcuffed and blindfolded him, seized three cell phones and a Canon camera, and took him away, according to the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, the Beirut-based regional press freedom organization SKeyes, and news reports.   

According to the court documents reviewed by CPJ, the Ofer military court on January 11 charged Taqatqa with incitement over several posts he shared on his personal Facebook and Telegram accounts, which have 13,000 followers and over 8,000 subscribers respectively, between October 7 and 10.

Wael Taqatqa told CPJ that the next hearing is expected to be held in July.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned.

Mohamed al-Rimawi

On December 22, Israeli soldiers arrested Palestinian journalist Mohamed al-Rimawi, who works at the Ramallah based Awda TV of the Radio and Television Commission, after a dawn raid on his home in the West Bank city of Beit Rima, according to his outlet, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and the Palestinian Authority-run Palestine TV.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Hatem Hamdan

On December 16, Israeli forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Hatem Hamdan at the Awarta checkpoint, south of the West Bank city of Nablus, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, news reports, and a Facebook post by his sister-in-law. These reports said that Hamdan’s car was seized. Hamdan is a freelance reporter and cameraman who has been contributing updates and commentary since the start of the war, including on the release of prisoners and the situation in the West Bank, to different broadcasters, including Jordan’s Al-Haqiqa TV, the Yemeni channel Al-Hawaia, the Nablus-based An-Najah TV, and the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera.                            

Prior to that, Hamdan worked for the news agency J-Media covering news including Israeli seizures of land and homes north of the West Bank city of Ramallah and the throwing of Molotov cocktails at Israeli troops in Ramallah. In early September 2023, Palestinian intelligence agents arrested Hamdan and held him for questioning for four days in the West Bank city of Al-Bireh, according to the Palestinian press freedom group MADA and a Facebook post by Hamdan.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Ikhlas Sawalha

On December 12, Israeli military forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Ikhlas Sawalha at the Deir Sharaf checkpoint, west of the West Bank city of Nablus, after searching her car, and took her to Damon Prison near the northern Israeli city of Haifa, according to news reports.

Several charges were brought against Sawalha related to her work as a journalist and a hearing was set for December 19, the Palestinian press freedom group MADA reported.

On December 21, Ofer military court placed Sawalha in administrative detention for six months, according to the Commission of Detainees Affairs, which supports Palestinian prisoners, MADA, and the journalist’s sister Walla, who spoke to CPJ.

According to CPJ’s review of Sawalha’s Facebook account, she is a media graduate from the West Bank’s University of Birzeit. Sawalha runs a YouTube channel, with 664 subscribers, where she has posted reports on events calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners and an interview she did for the Quds Feed Network, a Palestinian media network. Sawalha’s sister Walla told CPJ that Sawalha also worked with a local charity teaching journalism to students.

On February 8, Sawalha’s lawyer, Hassan Abbadi, described on Facebook his visit to the journalist in Damon Prison where he said conditions were poor, with overcrowded cells, water leaking from the ceiling, bad food, and bed bugs.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Diaa Al-Kahlout

On December 7, Palestinian journalist Diaa Al-Kahlout, chief bureau correspondent for the Qatari-funded London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, was arrested from the Al-Souk area in Beit Lahya, a city in northern Gaza, along with an unknown number of family members, according to a statement by his outlet and a report by Beirut-based news website Al-Modon.

On January 9, Al-Kahlout was released from Kerem Shalom crossing along with other Palestinian men who were held under Israeli custody, according to his outlet. In a video posted by the outlet after his release, Al-Kahlout said that he faced mistreatment and violence from Israeli officers, including the Shin Bet, and that while being held at a military base he was questioned about an article, published in 2018 by his outlet but written by a different journalist, which described details about Sayeret Matkal, the Israeli military unit, and its operations abroad.

STATUS: Released

Mosab Abu Toha

On November 19, the award-winning Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha was detained and questioned by Israeli forces as he was fleeing into southern Gaza with his family, according to The New Yorker, CNN, and Al Jazeera. He was released the following day, those sources said. Abu Toha recently wrote for The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Atlantic about the impact of Israeli strikes on his neighborhood. He was released on November  21. “I’m safe but I still have severe pain in my nose and teeth after being beaten by the Israeli army,” Abu Toha posted on Facebook on November 24. “I gave them all my family’s passports, including my American son’s passport but they didn’t return anything to me. Also my clothes and my children’s were taken and not returned to me. No wallet, no money, no credit cards. Everything was confiscated.”

The IDF said in a statement that Abu Toha was taken into questioning because of “intelligence indicating of a number of interactions between several civilians and terror organizations inside the Gaza Strip,” according to The Times of Israel and CNN.

STATUS: Released

Tarek el-Sharif

On November 19, Palestinian journalist Tarek el-Sharif, the host of the call-in radio show “With the People” on the West Bank-based Raya FM station, was arrested by Israeli soldiers at his home in Ramallah, West Bank, after a dawn raid, according to the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, the London-based news website The New Arab, and the journalist’s wife, Suha Tamim, who spoke to CPJ over the phone. Tamim said el-Sharif was being held at Ofer Prison and was arrested because of his journalism, specifically his reporting on Gaza and his program “With the People,” adding that el-Sharif did not cover politics. Tamim told CPJ in November that el-Sharif’s lawyer has not been informed by authorities of the reason for his arrest. Later in December he was charged with incitement, which can carry a sentence of up to two years, according to human rights groups in the region.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Ibrahim al-Zouhairy

On November 18, Palestinian journalist Ibrahim al-Zouhairy, a contributor to Al-Hadath news website, was arrested by Israeli forces at his home in Burham town, northern Ramallah, West Bank, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate. Soldiers broke into his family home in Burham, north of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to al-Zouhairy’s sister, journalist Hala al-Zouhairy, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate. In an interview with CPJ, Hala al-Zouhairy said that soldiers assaulted the journalist and another brother, Mohammad al-Zouhairy, a law student at Birzeit University, and arrested the pair. They also threatened to kill the family. She said that the brothers were not informed of any charges against them and that their lawyers have no information about the reason for their arrest.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Abdalafo Bassam Zaghir

On November 17, Palestinian freelance photographer and activist Abdalafo Bassam Zaghir was arrested by Israeli soldiers at Damascus gate near Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, according to the Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network, the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and Sanad News Agency. He was released on November 21.

STATUS: Released

Alaa Sarraj

On November 16, 2023, Israeli security forces arrested Palestinian journalist Alaa Sarraj, a photographer for local production company Ain Media, on Gaza City’s Salah al-Din Street, according to the Beirut-based regional press freedom group SKeyes, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and Sarraj’s sister, Farah Sarraj , who spoke to CPJ via messaging app on June 21 and 24. 

A relative of Sarraj’s, who preferred to remain anonymous, told SKeyes that Sarraj was arrested near the former Israeli settlement of Neztarim, 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) southwest of Gaza City, as he was fleeing the city for the southern Gaza Strip.

Farah Sarraj told CPJ via messaging app on June 21 that the family recently found out through a friend who was imprisoned with him in the same location that he is being held in Nafha Prison, 69 kilometers (42 miles) south of the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.  

Farah Sarraj said that her brother used to make advertisements for different local businesses, including retail stores and restaurants, and for a time he worked for nonprofit Islamic Relief, but when the war in Gaza started on October 7, 2023, he began to work as a journalist at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital along with his cousin Roshdi Sarraj, the founder of Ain Media who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on October 22, 2023.       

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Mervat Al Azze

On November 16, Palestinian journalist Mervat Al Azze was placed under arrest after being questioned by Israeli police in Jerusalem over Facebook posts. Al Azze, a part-time producer covering Gaza for NBC, was charged with incitement and transferred to a military court in Jerusalem, according to the London-based news website The New Arab, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, and her lawyer Jad Qadamani who told CPJ via messaging app that Al Azze had been held and interrogated for more than three days.  Al Azze was released in the hostage exchange deal between Israel and Hamas on November 28.

STATUS: Released

Mohamad al-Atrash

On November 8, Israeli soldiers arrested journalist Mohamad al-Atrash, a host for the program “People’s Discussions” at the local Palestinian Radio Alam, after raiding his house in Hebron, West Bank, according to the radio, the London-based news website The New Arab, and the Palestinian press freedom group MADA. Al-Atrash’s wife told Radio Alam that he was arrested and his phone confiscated in a dawn raid. Israeli authorities charged him with incitement on social media. Since the beginning of the 2023 Israel-Gaza war, Al-Atrash has been reporting on a daily basis on the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, including airstrikes, shortages of fuel at Gaza hospitals, and the rising death toll, as well as the war’s impact on the West Bank. He also shares commentary on his personal Facebook account, which has nearly 10,000 followers.  Radio Alam quoted al-Atrash’s lawyer, Khaled al-Araj, as saying that at a November 26 hearing Israeli prosecutors indicted al-Atrash for incitement over posts on his personal Facebook and Instagram accounts, rejected his bail, and extended his detention until the end of his trial without specifying a date.

Al-Atrash was released on June 6, according to a video of his release published by the Palestinian news agency Sahat and a report by the Palestinian news website Nabd.  

STATUS: Released

Amer Abu Arafa

On November 8, Israeli soldiers arrested reporter Amer Abu Arafa, a freelance reporter who works for the London-based Quds Press agency and Shehab news agency, after raiding his house in Hebron, West Bank, according to the Quds Press agency, the London-based news website The New Arab, the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, and the journalist’s brother Ammar Abu Arafa, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. Ammar Abu Arafa told CPJ that Israeli soldiers broke down their door, raided their house, assaulted his brother, and confiscated his phone. He noted that his brother has health issues and requires medication for paranasal sinuses.

Amer Abu Arafa, 39, was previously arrested and placed under administrative detention in July 2022 without charges or trial for eight months, according to his news outlet, Ultra Palestine news website, and his brother, who told CPJ that Amer Abu Arafa was only freed four months ago. Abu Arafa’s wife, Safa Hroub, told CPJ that her husband wasn’t notified of any charges against him and that he has been prevented from seeing a lawyer or his family. She said he was placed in administrative detention for six months on November 19.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Mohammad Ayad

Palestinian freelance journalist Mohammad Ayad, who contributes to the news websites Al-Qastal and the Quds News Network, is currently being held in Ofer Prison on charges of incitement, according to his wife, Sireen Awad, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app on March 18.

On November 7, Israeli security forces arrested Ayad at his home in the West Bank village of Abu Dis, 10.6 kilometers (6.5 miles) east of Jerusalem, according to news reports and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.  

“My husband works as a freelance journalist and he was charged with incitement because of Facebook posts, even though most of them fell within the scope of his journalistic work,” Ayad´s wife told CPJ.

Awad also told CPJ that her husband hasn’t yet stood trial on charges of incitement.

Ayad covered local news in Abu Dis, including confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli security forces, the release of Palestinian prisoners, assaults on Palestinian by Israeli security forces, or activities for children. He also did a video for the Palestinian Bar Association as part of a campaign for the release of Palestinian prisoners from jail and a Ramadan program for the Abu Dis Youth Club. 

Prior to his arrest, Ayad posted on his personal Facebook account comments critical of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, saying that he doesn’t represent him and questioning his position and views following the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7.

On October 13, he posted the picture of an Israeli soldier lying on the ground and covering his face while somebody puts his foot on his neck and a slogan that reads “our army, the proud army, destroyed the oppressive army.” On October 8, he posted a picture of the destroyed police station in Sderot, Israel.  

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Huthifa Abu Jamous

On November 6, Israeli security forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Huthifa Abu Jamous at his home in the village of Abu Dis, 10 kilometers (6 miles) east of Jerusalem, handcuffed him, and took him away, according to the Palestinian press freedom group MADA and the journalist’s father, Ali Dawod Jamous, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app on June 4.

Jamous, who contributes to the Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network and AlQastal News, is being held in administrative detention in Ofer Prison, according to the Palestinian Commission of Detainee Affairs, the Beirut-based regional press freedom organization SKeyes, and his father.

Jamous’s father told CPJ that the Ofer military court placed Jamous in administrative detention for six months on November 14,2023, the detention was extended by four months on April 16, and the decision was upheld on May 16.

The military prosecutor accused Jamous of incitement on social media, and of being a Hamas supporter who posed a security threat to the area, according to a copy of the military detention order reviewed by CPJ.

Jamous’s lawyer, Moataz Shqirat, rejected the prosecutor’s claims, and the journalist had never been convicted of any crime, according to the legal documents reviewed by CPJ.

The judge said in the detention order that he had received a classified intelligence file that confirmed the need to place Jamous in administrative detention.

Jamous was previously arrested in 2018.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Abdul Mohsen Shalaldeh

On November 6, Israeli security forces arrested Abdul Mohsen Shalaldeh, a cameraman for the local Palestinian news agency J-Media, at his home in the West Bank town of Sa’ir, 8 kilometers (5 miles) northeast of Hebron, seized his cell phone, handcuffed him, and took him away, according to the Palestinian press freedom group MADA and news reports.

According to the Palestinian Commission of Detainee Affairs, Shalaldeh was placed in administrative detention in Ofer Prison for six months on November 15.

Shalaldeh was previously arrested by Israeli security forces in February and June 2018, 2019, and 2020 and in January 2023. 

On May 6, Shalaldeh was released, according to news reports and social media posts by other journalists.

STATUS: Released

Ameer Abu Iram

On November 5, journalist Ameer Abu Iram, who works for the West Bank’s Ramallah-based news outlet Al Ersal Network, was arrested during a raid by Israeli soldiers on his home in Birzeit, Ramallah, according to a video shared by Al-Ersal on Facebook, a statement by the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, and his wife Joman Abu Arafa, who told CPJ that Abu Iram wasn’t informed of the charges against him or the reasons for his arrest. She said that Abu Iram had been placed in administrative detention on November 7 and that he was being held in Ofer Prison. Abu Arafa told CPJ that her husband was previously arrested in October 2017 over his journalism, when he was a reporter for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa channel. He was freed in late November 2017, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes.

Abu Iram was released on May 2, 2024, according to news reports and footage of his release posted on social media. 

STATUS: Released

Somaya Jawabra

On November 5, Somaya Jawabra, a 30-year-old freelance journalist from Nablus in the northern West Bank, was arrested. She was summoned, along with her husband, journalist Tariq Al-Sarkaji, for an investigation at the Israeli police station in the Ari’el camp. While her husband was later released, Jawabra, who was seven months pregnant when she was arrested, remained in custody for another week. Her arrest followed about two weeks of incitement against her by settlers in a Telegram group, according to her husband and London-based news website The New Arab, RT Arabic, and the Palestinian press freedom group MADA. The New Arab said settlers accused Jawabra of having Hamas ties and of inciting violence against Israel. On November 12, Jawabra was released from prison under the condition of house arrest for an indefinite period, and bail of 10,000 shekels (US$2,588), and a third-party bail of 50,000 shekels (US$12,940), in addition to preventing her from using the internet, and keeping her, her husband, and her mother-in-law under home supervision, according to the London-based news website The New Arab, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate. Jawabra gave birth to her son in January while still under house arrest.

STATUS: House arrest 

Nawaf al-Amer

On October 29, 62-year-old journalist Nawaf al-Amer of Sanad news agency was arrested in a raid by Israeli soldiers on his house in Kafr Qallil town of Nablus in the West Bank, according to his son, Ibrahim al-Amer, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app, and Al-Shabab local radio in Nablus. The Palestinian press freedom group MADA reported that al-Amer was arrested at 4 a.m. on October 29, after his house was searched and his phone was confiscated. MADA also reported that Al-Amer suffers from health issues, including diabetes, and needs medical care, which was confirmed to CPJ by his son, Ibrahim al-Amer, who said his father wasn’t notified of any charges against him. Nawaf al-Amer was previously arrested in 2011, when he was working as a programs director at the Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds TV channel, and spent 13 months in administrative detention, before he was freed in 2012, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and MADA.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Mohammad Badr

On October 28, journalist Mohammad Badr, a reporter and columnist for the Palestinian online website Al-Hadath, gave himself up to the IDF for detention, his wife Soujoud Al-Assi and the Al-Hadath editor-in-chief Rola Sarhan told CPJ. Earlier that month, Israeli forces began to put pressure on Badr’s family to force him to surrender. The pressure began after Badr received a phone call from an Israeli military officer ordering him to return to custody after he had been released from a four-month detention earlier this year even though he had no outstanding charges, according to Palestinian press freedom group MADA. On October 22, Israeli military forces first arrested Badr’s father and two brothers, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and Assi, who spoke to CPJ. Less than a week later, Israeli forces arrested Assi, also a journalist for Al-Hadath, from the couple’s home in Beit Liqya, southwest of Ramallah. During her arrest, Israeli soldiers searched and vandalized their house and seized electronic devices, according to the Palestinian press group MADA. Later that day, Badr turned himself in, Sarhan told CPJ. Assi, Badr’s father, and one of Badr’s brothers have since been released; a second brother is still in detention, Assi told CPJ.

On April 26, Israel’s Ofer military court extended Badr’s administrative detention for another 4 months, according to SKeyes and news reports.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Belal Arman

On October 27, The Israel Defense Forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Belal Arman, who contributed to the now-banned J-Media news agency, and he was later placed in administrative detention for four months. IDF forces surrounded Arman’s home in the West Bank town of Kharbatha Bani Harith, west of Ramallah, asked him to produce identification and a cell phone, and then arrested him, according to the Palestinian press freedom organization MADA, the Beirut-based press regional freedom organization SKeyes, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate. Arman’s cousin, Sameh Arman told CPJ that the family has received no information about the reason for his arrest and that on November 9 he was placed in administrative detention for four months.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Lama Khater

On October 26, Lama Khater, a freelance writer with Middle East Monitor and the Palestinian news website Felesteen and a political activist, was arrested by the IDF in the city of Hebron, West Bank, her husband Hazem Fakhoury told CPJ, and Al Jazeera and the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes reported. Fakhoury said he did not know the reason for his wife’s arrest but that her lawyer had told him that Khater would be transferred to administrative detention—incarceration without charge, alleging that a person plans to commit an offense. Khater was previously arrested in 2018 and detained for more than a year over her critical reporting, according to the Palestine Information Center and the Middle East Monitor. On November 8, Khater’s husband told CPJ via messaging app that soldiers in her cell threatened her with rape and burning of her children. Her lawyer, Hassan Abbadi, who visited her in prison, also wrote about these details on his Facebook page, which was also reported by Al Jazeera. The lawyer told CPJ via phone call that Khater was strip searched, and threatened to be “deported to Gaza.” Khater was released in a prisoner exchange in November 2023.

STATUS: Released

Radwan Qatanani

On October 25, Israeli military forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Radwan Qatanani, who covers issues related to Israel’s military occupation for several Palestinian news websites, including Etar, Arabi 21, Hadarat, and the Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network. He was later placed in administrative detention for six months. Israeli military forces searched Qatanani’s home in the Askar Refugee Camp, on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Nablus, in the early morning. When they didn’t find the journalists there they called him and asked him to come home. Qatanani returned to the house and was arrested, Qatanani’s brother, Ali Qatanani, told Palestinian press freedom group MADA. Beirut-based regional press freedom organization SKeyes and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate also reported on the arrest. Qatanani´s brother told CPJ that Qatanani was being held in Megiddo Prison, in northern Israel, and that the family has been unable to get any information about his condition or the reasons for his arrest.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Thaer Fakhoury

On October 20, Israeli military forces arrested Palestinian journalist and producer Thaer Fakhoury. He is being held in administrative detention for six months. Fakhoury is the director of the media production company Space Media, which provides video production services, including to Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera. He also provides live footage of events in the West Bank on his Facebook account, which has 74,000 followers. He also works as a graphic designer and caricaturist, according to his personal Facebook account. Israeli military forces surrounded Fakhoury´s home in southern Hebron and raided it, according to news reports and a report by the Palestinian press freedom group MADA. Fakhoury´s father told MADA that the journalist and his brother were held in a room and questioned while soldiers searched the house. Soldiers blindfolded and handcuffed Fakhoury, seized his cell phone and his car keys, and took him away in a military jeep parked near his house. A relative who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity said the family believed the arrest was related to Fakhoury’s social media posting.

Fakhoury was released on June 13, 2024, according to a news report by the Palestinian news website Nabd and Instagram posts by Palestinian journalists and news outlets.

STATUS: Released

Musaab Qafesha

On October 20, Israeli military forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Musaab Qafesha. He was later placed in administrative detention for six months. Qafesha contributes reporting from Hebron and other West Bank locales to broadcasters and news agencies including Egypt’s Al-Watan TV, Iraq’s Al-Rafidiain TV, Al-Watan News Agency, and the Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network. Qafesha also used to work for the monitoring and documentation team of the Palestinian digital rights group Sada Social. Israeli soldiers surrounded Qafesha’s home in Hebron and urged Qafesha and his brother to come out. As soon as they complied, they were handcuffed, taken to military jeeps and driven away to an unknown destination, according to Palestinian press freedom group MADA, citing another brother, and news reports. On October 26, Qafesha was placed in administrative detention for six months, according to Facebook posts by the official Commission of Detainees Affairs. Qafesha´s father, Khamis Abdulkader Qafesha, told CPJ that he believed his son may have been arrested because of his activity on social media, though he could not identify anything specific that might have drawn scrutiny.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Alaa al-Rimawi

On October 19, Palestinian journalist Alaa al-Rimawi, the director of the Israeli-banned J-Media agency, was arrested after turning himself in at Ofer Prison following a raid by Israeli military forces, who entered his home in Ramallah while he was undergoing medical examinations at a hospital, arrested his son, and notified his family that he had to surrender himself to Israeli custody, according to Palestinian press freedom organization MADA, the Lebanese regional press freedom group SKeyes, and a video al-Rimawi posted on TikTok while he was in the hospital. On November 20, al-Rimawi’s wife told CPJ that her husband had been placed in administrative detention for six months, but did not know the exact date the detention began. On October 16, three days prior to al-Rimawi’s arrest at Ofer Prison, the IDF ordered J-Media agency to shut down, according to MADA and the London-based news website The New Arab. Al-Rimawi’s family told CPJ that they believe he is being held over his social media posting, though they didn’t specify which posts.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Imad Abu Awad

On October 19, Palestinian journalist and political commentator Imad Abu Awad was arrested by Israeli forces in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. He was later held under administrative detention for six months. Abu Awad provides commentary to international and regional broadcasters including Al Jazeera, Al-Ghad and Al-Qahera News. He also shares video clips of his TV  appearances and comments on his Facebook account, which has over 3,800 followers.  A former program producer for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds TV, he directs the Al-Quds Center for Palestinian and Israeli Studies think tank and the U-Smart Center for Training, a training center for Palestinians, in Ramallah. Israeli forces arrested Abu Awad at his office at U-Smart Centre for Training and searched the premises, according to news reports and the Palestinian press freedom group MADA. They seized his cell phone and laptop. Ten days after his arrest, he was placed in administrative detention for six months and transferred to Nafha Prison, outside Beersheba, his brother told CPJ. Abu Awad´s brother told CPJ that the family spoke to Abu Awad in prison and that he is in good health.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Abdel Nasser al-Laham

On October 16, Israel Defense Forces arrested Palestinian journalist Abdel Nasser al-Laham, a photographer covering local news for the Ma’an News Agency. He is being held without charge at Ofer Prison. IDF forces broke down the door to al-Laham’s home in the Dheisheh refugee camp, south of Bethlehem, at 6:30 a.m., pointed their guns at the journalist, tied his hands behind his back, and blindfolded him, al-Laham’s father, Mohammad al-Laham told Ma’an, which published a video of soldiers leading the journalist away. Al-Laham´s father told CPJ that his son was questioned about activities during his time at university, though was unable to specify what.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Moath Amarneh

On October 16, Israel Defense Forces arrested Palestinian journalist Moath Amarneh, a photographer and cameraman for the West Bank-based J-Media agency, the same day that Israel banned J-Media on security grounds. Amarneh, who lost his left eye to an Israeli rubber bullet while covering protests in 2019, was placed in administrative detention for six months on October 29 in Megiddo Prison and, according to  news reports and MADA, beaten by prison officers. According to the Palestinian press freedom group MADA and news reports, on October 16, 12 Israeli soldiers stormed into Amarneh´s home in the Dheisheh refugee camp, south of Bethlehem, and handcuffed him. One of the soldiers forced Amarneh to speak to an officer over the phone, who asked Amarneh about the nature of his work. When he said that he was a journalist, the officer informed him that he was under arrest for incitement.  He was provided access to a lawyer, who has been able to visit him in prison, according to news reports. Amarneh still suffers severe health conditions and is in need of medicines that weren’t allowed in according to emails from his relatives CPJ received.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Mustafa al-Khawaja

On October 16, Israel Defense Forces arrested Palestinian journalist Mustafa al-Khawaja, a reporter for the West Bank-based J-Media Network and the Hamas-affiliated channel Al-Aqsa TV, on October 16. He was later placed in administrative detention for six months. The day of his arrest, Israel banned J-Media on security grounds; Al-Aqsa TV has been banned for several years. Around 20 soldiers broke through the gate of al-Khawaja’s home in Ni’lin, west of Ramallah, at around 3 a.m., according to Palestinian press freedom group MADA, citing an interview with al-Khawaja’s brother, Hamada al-Khawaja, and news reports. Soldiers asked for al-Khawaja’s identification, handcuffed him, seized his mobile phone, and drove him to an unknown destination. He was placed under administrative detention for six months on October 26, news reports said. Al-Khawaja has been given access to a lawyer, but his lawyer told CPJ on November 20 that visits to prisoners aren’t allowed. Al-Khawaja’s lawyer believes he is now held in Megiddo Prison, in northern Israel, but was not able to confirm. Al-Khawaja’s family believes he was arrested because of his social media commentary on the Israel-Gaza war.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Sabri Jibril

On October 15, Israel Defense Forces arrested Palestinian journalist Sabri Jibril, a reporter for the West Bank-based J-Media agency, on October 15, 2023, and later placed him in administrative detention. The day after his arrest, Israel banned J-Media on security grounds. Jibril’s brother, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, told CPJ that they believe that the journalist was arrested for his social media commentary on the 2023 Israel-Gaza war, though they did not specify what comments. According to an October 26 Facebook post by the official Commission of Detainees Affairs and Jibril’s brother, Jibril was placed in administrative detention in Megiddo Prison for six months.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Editor’s note: Fathi Atkidik, who appeared on the list of arrested earlier, is a former journalist whose arrest may not be related to his previous journalistic work. CPJ has removed his name from the list while we continue to investigate circumstances surrounding his arrest.

Editor’s note: The name of the wife of journalist Amer Abu Arafa has been corrected. Her name is Safa Hroub.

More on journalist casualties in the Israel-Gaza conflict

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