Arrests of Palestinian journalists since start of Israel-Gaza war

By Doja Daoud, Mohamed Mandour, Ignacio Miguel Delgado Culebras, and Samir Alsharif on February 4, 2025 2:00 AM EST

 

Since the start of the Israel-Gaza war, an unprecedented number of journalists and media workers have been arrested — often without charge — in what they and their attorneys say is retaliation for their journalism and commentary.

As of March 25, 2025, CPJ has documented a total of 75 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 70; Palestinian authorities arrested five.

Forty-one of these journalists, including the five held by Palestinian authorities, have since been released, while 34 remain under arrest.

At least nine 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. The tally includes all arrests documented by CPJ. As is our global practice, journalists who request anonymity out of concern for their safety are not named in the list below.)

At least seven journalists’ families have told CPJ that they have been unable to trace their detained relatives, despite reaching out via human rights groups, humanitarian organizations, and lawyers. Numerous journalists have been taken from Gaza to prisons and detention centers in Israel and the West Bank, where they say they have been subjected to mistreatment and torture.

CPJ has routinely contacted the Israel Defense Forces’ North America Media Desk asking for comments on journalists’ arrests since the start of the war. In a September 29 response, the IDF said it “does not arrest journalists simply for being journalists” and that it detains “individuals suspected of involvement in terrorist activity.” The IDF said that “relevant suspects” were brought to Israel for detention and questioning.

The IDF said it could not fully address CPJ’s inquiry about individual journalists because not enough details, such as their ID numbers or full names, were included. CPJ had earlier advised the IDF that research limitations in Gaza prevented the provision of such information.

The IDF and the Israeli Prison Service did not respond to CPJ’s queries about the location of several journalists including Ahmed Abdel Aal, Amjad Arafat, Mahmoud Elewa, Imad Ifranji, Khalil Odeh, and Shadi Abu Sido.

CPJ’s emails to request comment from the Israeli Prison Service, the Palestinian General Intelligence Service about the arrests of Palestinian journalists, and Shin Bet about Palestinian journalists arrested in the West Bank did not receive any replies.

The allegations of abuse documented by CPJ are in line with research by the Jerusalem-based human rights group B’Tselem, which interviewed 55 Palestinians taken into Israeli custody since the start of the war. Most were subsequently freed without trial. The detainees reported, “Frequent acts of severe, arbitrary violence; sexual assault; humiliation and degradation; deliberate starvation; forced unhygienic conditions; sleep deprivation; prohibition on, and punitive measures for, religious worship; confiscation of all communal and personal belongings; and denial of adequate medical treatment.”

“Since October 7, 2023, 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 Martínez 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.”

Israel was the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists in CPJ’s latest annual prison census, with 43 Palestinian journalists in Israeli custody on December 1, 2024.

Journalist casualties
Killed, injured and missing

However, the number of journalists behind bars may be higher than CPJ’s records show as it has become increasingly difficult to verify information. 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 six other journalists in Gaza not included in this list. (Read more here about our methodology.)

List of arrests

Jarrah Khalaf

On January 8, 2025, Palestinian police arrested freelance reporter Jarah Khalaf, who works for Quds Feed Network, a Palestinian media network, while he was passing through a security checkpoint in the West Bank’s Jenin city, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and Ayman Nubani, a representative of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS), who spoke to CPJ.

Khalaf reports via his Telegram page about the Palestinian Authority’s security operation in Jenin.

Nubani said the Palestinian security force spokesperson Brig. Gen. Anwar Rajab told PJS that Khalaf had been arrested for legal violations, without giving further details.  

When CPJ phoned Rajab to ask about Khalaf’s arrest, he said that he could not immediately comment.  

Khalaf was released on February 5, 2025.

STATUS: Released

Mahmoud Matar

On January 6, 2025, Palestinian General Intelligence Service agents arrested freelance journalist Mahmoud Matar, after summoning him for questioning at their Nablus headquarters in the West Bank, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group Skeyes, Ultra Sawt Palestine news site, and his lawyer Mohannad Karajah, who spoke to CPJ.

Matar was brought before the prosecution to face charges of incitement and possession of a weapon, Karajah said, adding that he believed the charges were brought in retaliation for his client’s journalistic work.

Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate representative Ayman Nubany told CPJ on January 8 that the charges were false and the journalist was never in possession of a weapon. Matar confirmed this to CPJ after his release.

Matar told CPJ that he was beaten while being questioned over his social media posts about clashes between Palestinian forces and armed groups in Jenin refugee camp.

Matar is a television journalist whose YouTube channel has over 1,000 followers. He also works for the West Bank’s Quran Radio and provides commentary on the Palestinian territories, including for Jordan’s Al-Haqiqa satellite channel.

Matar was released on January 19, 2025.

STATUS: Released

Islam Ahmed

On December 27, 2024, the Israeli army arrested photographer Islam Ahmed, a 33-year-old Palestinian journalist who freelances with the Turkish state-owned outlets TRT and Anadolu Agency, Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, and Reuters news agency, inside Kamal Adwan Hospital in the city of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.

Freelance photographer and journalist Mohammed Al-Sharif, who works with Qatari-based Al Jazeera Mubasher and Ramallah-based privately owned news agency Quds News Network, told CPJ that he was detained with Ahmed, but was released about 12 hours later.

“Around 6:00 a.m. on Friday [December 27], Israeli occupation soldiers began calling for us from inside their tanks to go out to the hospital yard and forced us to take off our clothes except for our underwear. Then, at 7:15 a.m., we were taken to the Israeli investigation center located in Al-Fakhoura Square, west of Jabalia camp,” said Al-Sharif.

“The soldiers forced the women to take off their clothes and veils, and assaulted those who refused, and even interrogated children under the age of 10. When they learned that I was also a journalist, they increased the intensity of their beatings and asked me for my communication devices. But I told them that they were damaged due to the shelling, so they intensified their assault on me, and then they released me at 7:30 p.m.”

Mohammed Ahmed, Islam’s brother, who works as a correspondent in northern Gaza for the Turkish broadcaster TRT Arabic channel, told CPJ that his brother sent him a message just before the Israeli raid that closed northern Gaza’s last major functioning health facility.

“The last communication between me and Islam was at dawn on Friday, through a voice recording in which he told me that the Israeli occupation army was besieging Kamal Adwan Hospital and demanding that they evacuate to its courtyard,” Mohammed Ahmed, Islam’s brother, who works as a correspondent in northern Gaza for the Turkish broadcaster TRT Arabic channel, told CPJ.

“He asked me to take care of his family and his two children,” he said, adding that Islam’s wife had fled to central Gaza after their home was destroyed and given birth to the couple’s second child. Islam had not yet seen the baby at the time of his arrest.

“Those who were released later told me that Islam was assaulted along with the hospital director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya. One of the paramedics who were there to transport some of the wounded saw Islam handcuffed and arrested, and the occupation army has not released him yet,” he said.

STATUS: Currently Imprisoned

Tawfiq AlsayedSaleem

On November 18, 2024, Israeli forces arrested Palestinian journalist Tawfiq AlsayedSaleem, while he was fleeing with his family from Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza, towards Gaza City, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and his son, AlaaAldeen Tawfiq AlsayedSaleem, who spoke to CPJ.

AlsayedSaleem, 48, is a member of the board of directors of Al-Istiqlal newspaper and editorial director of its website. AlaaAldeen Tawfiq AlsayedSaleem told CPJ that his father was against leaving Beit Lahia, but eventually agreed to leave with about 70 family members “after the great pressure and the destruction of homes over the heads of their residents,” and fears “that the occupation would bomb the house while we were inside.” 

Soldiers at the Israeli military checkpoint separating the northern Gaza Strip from Gaza City split the group, allowing the women and children through but keeping the men at the checkpoint, the son said. “They treated us badly, insulted us and mocked us, and made us take off all our clothes except our underwear,” he said, adding that the soldiers ordered them to throw all of their bags “so that the tanks would crush them.”

The soldiers released AlaaAldeen Tawfiq AlsayedSaleem around 5 p.m. and his brother about an hour later, he said. “But they kept my father detained even though he entered for investigation before us, and they arrested a number of relatives with him,” he said, adding the other family members who were released fled towards Gaza City.

STATUS: Currently Imprisoned

Nidal Elian

Israeli military forces arrested Nidal Elian, editor-in-chief at the satellite channel Al-Quds Today, October 22, 2024, in Beit Lahia, according to his wife Alaa Elian and a representative of the Palestinian prisoner support group Addameer, who spoke to CPJ over the phone.

His wife told CPJ that the family fled their home in the Jabalia refugee camp after the Israeli military bombed their apartment building and moved in with relatives in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza. According to his wife, on October 22, Israeli military forces issued an order through a drone’s loudspeaker for residents to evacuate the area because they were going to destroy it, and ordered residents to a school next to the Kamal Adwan Hospital. When they arrived, Israeli military forces separated men from the women and detained Elian, his father, brother, and nephew, according to his wife, who added that she only found out hours later after his father and brother were released.

Elian needs specialized medical care after donating a kidney to his son, according to his wife.

CPJ’s email to the IDF requesting comment on Elian’s detention was referred to their “situation room.”

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Jihad al-Din al-Badawi

On October 5, 2024, Israeli security forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Jihad al-Din al-Badawi, according to the Beirut based press freedom group SKeyes and his brother, Abed al-Hakeem al-Badawi.

Abed al-Hakeem al-Badawi told CPJ via messaging app on October 7 that his brother was arrested at a checkpoint north of Bethlehem in the West Bank on his way back from work.

Israeli authorities are currently holding al-Badawi at Etzion detention center, according to his brother.

An IDF spokesperson referred CPJ’s emails for comment on why al-Badawi was arrested and detained to the ISA; CPJ’s follow-up to the ISA did not receive a response.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Mujahed al-Saadi

On September 19, 2024, Israeli security forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Mujahed al-Saadi, who contributes to the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Araby al-Jadeed and the local broadcaster Palestine Today TV, during the night at his home in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, according to news reports.

Al-Saadi’s brother, Amjad al-Saadi, told the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes that the soldiers broke into his brother’s home, assaulted and beat him, and arrested him in his pajamas.

“They didn’t allow him to change his clothes or put on his shoes and they seized his cell phones,” he said. 

Al-Saadi was placed in administrative detention for six months on September 30. 

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Qutaiba Hamdan

On September 17, 2024, Israeli security forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Qutaiba Hamdan, who contributes to several outlets including the local news agency J-Media, at his home in Beitunia, 3 kilometers (2 miles) west of the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to news reports and the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes. Israel banned J-Media soon after the start of the Israel-Gaza war.

Hamdan´s father, Mohammed Hamdan, told CPJ via phone on September 17 that Israeli soldiers arrived at his son’s home at around 4 a.m., handcuffed him, and took him to an unknown location.    

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Ali Dar Ali

On September 5, 2024, Israeli security forces arrested Palestinian journalist Ali Dar Ali, a reporter for the Palestinian Authority-funded Palestine TV, at his home in the Palestinian village of Burham, 12 kilometers (7 miles) north of the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency WAFA, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and Hassan Abo al-Rub, manager of Palestine TV’s West Bank office, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app on September 5.

Lawyer Khaled Ala’araj told CPJ that Dar Ali was being held in Ofer Prison, near Ramallah, on allegations of incitement on social media. Dar Ali rejected all of the evidence presented against him, according to his lawyer.

On October 6, 2024, an Israeli court released Dar Ali on a bail of 20,000 shekels (US$5,305), pending a court hearing on incitement charges, Ala’araj told CPJ. Israeli authorities have yet to set a hearing date.

CPJ’s email to the IDF requesting comment on Dar Ali’s arrest and charges did not immediately receive a response.  

STATUS: Released

Ashwaq Muhammad Ayad

On August 31, 2024, Israeli security forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Ashwaq Muhammad Ayad, a reporter and photographer for the Jenin-based Al-dafa TV, at a checkpoint in the old city of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, according to the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency WAFA, the Beirut-based regional press freedom group SKeyes, and Palestinian freelance photographer Amer al-Shaloudi, who was with her at the time and spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

Al-Shaloudi, who was detained with Ayad near Ibrahimi Mosque for two hours and subsequently released, told CPJ that Ayad was being held at Jerusalem’s Moscovia Detention Center for writing critically about Israel on social media.

Ayad’s father, Mohammed, told CPJ via messaging app on September 30 that a court hearing scheduled for September 15 was postponed until November 10 and that Ayad had been charged with incitement on social media for posts published between October 7, 2023, and May 2024 and for supporting a hostile organization.

On January 19, 2025, Ayad was released as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. Video footage indicated that she appeared to be in poor health.

Ayad told CPJ by phone on February 3, 2025, that she was arrested because of her regular coverage of settlers marching in Hebron’s Old City.

“When I was arrested, I was told by the Israeli police that I was followed by the Israeli intelligence for more than one month and the arrest order was issued for me a long time before my arrest,” she said.

“I was taken with a police car to Beitar Illit police station for interrogation. The questioning was for five minutes only, and it was ridiculous questions and accusations of incitement,” she said.

Ayad said the police asked for her cell phone, opened her Facebook page, and asked about her posts about Palestinian fighters that were killed.

Ayad said she was not allowed to wear her hijab for two months of her detention.

On her January 19 release, Ayad said she was warned that “I will be arrested if I publish anything that can be considered incitement” and told to meet with a Shin Bet officer on January 28.

“I arrived with my father for the meeting, and I was held for nine hours without any questions,” she said.

STATUS: Released

Ramez Awad

On August 30, 2024, Israeli security forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist and photographer Ramez Awad at his home in the Palestinian village of Jifna, 8 kilometers (5 miles) north of the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and Amani Sarahneh, spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoners Club, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app on August 30.

Awad´s cousin, Amjad Awad, told Beirut-based regional press freedom organization SKeyes that Israeli soldiers broke into Awad’s family home in Jifna, checked his ID card and took him away without informing the family of the charges against him or where they were taking him. 

Awad’s brother, Rani Awad, told CPJ via messaging app on September 3 that Awad is currently being held in Ofer Prison and a court hearing has been scheduled for September 8.

On December 18, 2023, an Israeli soldier shot Ramez Awad, injuring his thigh, while he was covering Israeli military operations in the village of Jaffna, north of Ramallah, according to news reports and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Hamza Zyoud

On August 12, 2024, Israeli security forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Hamza Zyoud at his home in the village of Silat al-Harithiya, 10 kilometers (6 miles) northwest of the West Bank city of Jenin, according to the Beirut-based regional press freedom group SKeyes and news reports. 

Zyoud’s brother Ahmed was cited by SKeyes as saying that Israeli forces broke down the door of the family home, searched the house and questioned Zyoud before handcuffing him and taking him away.

Local Palestinian journalist Mujahed al-Sa’adi told CPJ via messaging app on August 12 that Zyoud studies journalism at the Jenin-based Arab American University and works as a freelance journalist and camera operator for several media outlets, including BBC Arabic and Saudi-based Al-Arabiya. Zyoud also holds a press card identifying him as a freelancer, which CPJ has reviewed, and issued by the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.

Al-Sa’adi told CPJ on August 27 that Zyoud is being held at the Huwwara detention center, near the West Bank city of Nablus, and has been placed in administrative detention for 5½ months.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Assem Shonar

On August 3, 2024, Palestinian freelance journalist and camera operator Assem Shonar was arrested at his house by Israeli soldiers who raided the home in the Nablus town of Asira ash-Shamaliya in the West Bank, according to media reports.

Shonar’s friend, journalist Abdul Mohsen Shalaldeh, told CPJ via messaging app on October 25 that Shonar had previously worked with him at J-Media for a year, until Israeli authorities shuttered the outlet in October 2023, and that Shonar had been freelancing with other outlets ever since.

Shonar’s father, Mustafa Shonar, told CPJ via messaging app in November that his son was working on a documentary film.

He added that Shonar was being held at Ofer prison and was put under administrative detention for four months.

CPJ emailed the North America Desk of the Israel Defense Forces requesting information on the charges against the journalist, reason for his arrest, and conditions in prison didn’t receive a response. The IDF referred CPJ to Israel’s security agency, Shin Bet, which did not immediately respond to CPJ’s subsequent emails.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Hazem Nasser

On July 25, 2024, Israeli forces raided the house of Palestinian journalist Hazem Nasser, a 34-year-old camera operator for An-Najah TV, which is affiliated with of An-Najah National University in the northern West Bank, and arrested him, according to multiple news reports.

The soldiers surrounded the house in the town of Tulkarem at about 4 a.m., broke down the doors, handcuffed and blindfolded Nasser in his bedroom, and took him to an unknown location, the journalist’s parents told those sources. Nasser’s mother said they also raided and searched the journalist’s brother’s house. Charges against Nasser have not been disclosed.

Nasser’s mother added that Nasser was summoned and questioned in June by an Israeli intelligence officer in Tulkarem who threatened the journalist by saying, “This is your last warning or you will be arrested.” Nasser responded that he was only doing his journalistic work, she said.

Nasser is married with two young children, his parents said.

In June 2023, Nasser was shot by Israeli forces in a raid on Jenin refugee camp, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and The Associated Press news agency, which said that an AP journalist saw the military shoot directly at Nasser who was wearing a clearly marked “Press” vest. Nasser, who was then working as a camera operator for Jordan’s Al-Ghad TV, was hospitalized with serious injuries, CPJ reported at the time.

CPJ previously documented that Nasser was arrested in 2021 and 2016 by Israeli forces and in 2018 by Palestinian forces.

On September 2, Nasser was placed in administrative detention for five months, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club and his lawyer, Fadi Qawasmeh, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app on September 3.

Qawasmeh added that Nasser is being held at Al-Jalame detention center, 14 kilometers (9 miles) southeast of Haifa.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Hamza Jaber

On July 20, 2024, at 3:00 a.m., Israeli security forces raided the house of the Palestinian media student and freelance journalist Hamza Jaber in the West Bank village of Jaba’ in Jenin, aiming to arrest him, but didn’t find him. The officers arrested his brother Yousef instead, to force Hamza to surrender at an Israeli checkpoint, according to what Yousef, who spoke to CPJsaid he heard from the military commander of the raid, and according to news reports.

Hamza turned himself in on the same day at 1 p.m. at the Israeli checkpoint Dotan, and his brother was released later on the same day.

Yousef Jaber told CPJ via messaging app on October 28, that Israeli forces attacked his family, damaged their home, furniture, and cars, and confiscated all the computers from his family’s house, including his mother’s and brother’s computer. Yousef Jaber provided CPJ with photos of the damage to the two cars and the house caused by Israeli officers during the raid.

Yousef Jaber, brother of imprisoned journalist Hamza Jaber, provided images of their damaged home and cars following a raid in July 2024 when they arrested Yousef, later freeing Yousef in exchange for Hamza Jaber’s surrender. (Photos: Courtesy of Yousef Jaber)

According to the August 15, 2024, Israeli Shomron military court document that CPJ reviewed, Hamza Jaber will be on administrative detention for 6 months. He is currently being held in Meggido prison.

CPJ emailed the North America Desk of the Israel Defense Forces requesting information on the charges against the journalist, reason for his arrest, and conditions in prison didn’t receive a response. The IDF referred CPJ to Israel’s security agency, Shin Bet, which did not immediately respond to CPJ’s subsequent emails.

STATUS: Currently imprisoned

Rasha Hirzallah

On June 2, 2024, 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.

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.

On November 17, an Israeli court sentenced Hirzallah to six months’ imprisonment for incitement on social media and fined her 5,000 shekels ($US1,350).

Hirzallah was subsequently released on December 1, after completing the six-month sentence.

STATUS: Released

Mahmoud Fatafta

On May 29, 2024, 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

(Photo: Courtesy of Bilal al-Taweel)

On May 29, 2024, 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 and the journalist’s brother Hamad al-Taweel, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

A video posted by the Palestinian news outlet Al-Qastal on its X account shows two Israeli soldiers taking Al-Taweel, blindfolded and handcuffed, to an armored military vehicle.  

Hamad al-Taweel told CPJ that the soldiers seized his brother’s phone. Al-Taweel is active on Facebook and Instagram, where he posts commentary and videos of the war in Gaza.

On January 8, 2025, an Israeli military court issued al-Taweel with a nine-month sentence for incitement and a fine of 5,000 shekels (US$1,370), his lawyer Fadi Qawasmeh told CPJ, adding that the journalist agreed to to plead guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence.

Israeli forces previously arrested al-Taweel in 2018. He was released 10 days later, according to news reports. 

Al-Taweel was released on February 27, 2025.

STATUS: Released

Mahmoud Adel Ma’atan Barakat

On May 19, 2024, 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.

Bakarat told CPJ that he was released on July 6, 2024.    

STATUS: Released

Khalil Dweeb

On April 16, 2024, two Palestinian General Intelligence Service agents arrested Khalil Dweeb, a freelance camera operator who contributes to the Qatari-funded broadcaster Al Jazeera, 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, 2024, 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