DaysofPal- Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) detained 42 Palestinian journalists in 2025, including eight women, in the occupied West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem, and areas inside the 1948 territories, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate said on Thursday.
In a statement accompanying a newly released report, the syndicate said the arrests formed part of what it described as a systematic campaign against Palestinian media, involving arbitrary and administrative detention, physical assaults, prolonged interrogations, travel restrictions, and the confiscation of journalistic equipment.
The measures, it said, were aimed at suppressing media coverage and undermining Palestinian journalism.
The syndicate’s Freedom Committee warned of an escalation in targeting practices, citing an increased focus on prominent journalists, the repeated arrest of the same individuals, and wider use of administrative detention without charge or trial.
The report said such practices were accompanied by physical and psychological abuse intended to intimidate journalists and deter independent reporting.
According to the syndicate, many journalists were detained while carrying out their professional duties, including documenting Israeli military raids and incursions. The arrests, it said, were designed to remove eyewitnesses from the field and obstruct the flow of information.
The report also noted a rise in nighttime raids on journalists’ homes and their arrest in the presence of family members, a tactic the syndicate said was meant to exert psychological and social pressure.
Administrative detention was described by the Freedom Committee as the most severe form of targeting, as it allows journalists to be held for indefinite periods without formal charges, in what the syndicate said constitutes a violation of international law.
Beyond arrests, the report documented cases of journalists being beaten, dragged, threatened with firearms, and having their equipment seized without being returned, actions it said significantly hinder journalists’ ability to work.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate urged the United Nations and international human rights organizations to take urgent action and hold Israeli criminals accountable for what it described as violations against Palestinian journalists.
Separately, Gaza’s Government Media Office said in early December that 257 Palestinian journalists had been killed during the ongoing Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip over the past two years.
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