West Bank14 September, 20263 min read
Israel Detains 37 Palestinian Journalists, Including 19 Under Administrative Detention
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37 Palestinian journalists are detained in Israeli prisons. 19 are held under administrative detention without charge or trial.
7 outlets told this the same way.
37 Journalists Held
A rights group says Israel is holding 37 Palestinian journalists in Israeli prisons, including 19 under administrative detention without charge or trial, and it links the detentions to the start of the Gaza genocide in October 2023. The Palestinian Prisoner Society said journalists Muath Ammarna and Sabri Jibrin were arrested Thursday after Israeli forces raided their homes in Bethlehem in the southern West Bank, and it said Ammarna is being detained for the third time over his journalistic work.
The group also cited journalist and writer Mahmoud Fatafta, who it said received a 48-month prison sentence over what Israel describes as “incitement,” and it said Israeli authorities increasingly use “incitement” charges alongside administrative detention based on what authorities describe as “secret files.” The society said nineteen journalists from the occupied West Bank, including East Al-Quds, are currently held under administrative detention, accounting for 51% of all detained journalists, and it highlighted the case of journalist Bushra al-Tawil, 33, transferred from Damon Prison in northern Israel to solitary confinement at Ramla Prison in central Israel.
Quotes and Legal Framing
The Palestinian Prisoner Society said Israel continues to target Palestinian members of the press through “abductions, prison sentences, solitary confinement and legal action,” and it described the measures as part of a broader strategy to suppress journalistic activities and freedom of expression. In the case of Mahmoud Fatafta, the PPS said he received a 48-month prison sentence for what Israel characterizes as “incitement,” calling it one of the most severe penalties imposed in comparable cases.
The same rights group said the 19 journalists held under administrative detention represent 51% of all abducted journalists, and it pointed to the case of Bushra al-Tawil, 33, who it said was relocated from Damon Prison in the northern part of the Israeli-occupied lands to solitary confinement at Ramla Prison in the central side of the territories. Al-Jazirah Net framed the issue around “The Secret File” and “Incitement,” saying there is no publicly announced charge or trial in which a Palestinian journalist can defend himself, and it said 19 Palestinian journalists are “languishing in Israeli prisons under administrative detention, without charge or trial.”
Raids, Detention, and Risk
Beyond the journalists, the sources describe a wider pattern of Israeli actions in the occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza genocide in October 2023, including daily Israeli army raids and escalating attacks by occupiers. The Palestinian Prisoner Society said Israeli forces detained more than 100 Palestinians across the West Bank over the previous week, bringing the number of West Bank detainees since October 2023 to more than 25,000, in addition to thousands detained from Gaza.
The rights group also accused Israeli authorities of intensifying isolation and other restrictive measures against female Palestinian prisoners, alongside food deprivation, denial of medical care, and poor sanitation conditions, and it said detained journalists face the same conditions as other Palestinian prisoners, including hunger, medical neglect, torture, abuse, solitary confinement and denial of basic rights. Al-Jazirah Net added that the Palestinian Journalists Union recorded 84 violations against journalists during August, saying Israeli forces and settlers committed them, including the killing of a journalist inside the prisons and the wounding of another with a bullet.