At least 49 Palestinian journalists held behind Israeli bars

April 29, 2025
Palestinian Prisoner’s Society 

Ramallah, Palestine - Israeli occupation forces arrested Palestinian journalist Ali al-Samoudi from his home in the city of Jenin at dawn today. In 2022, Ali was injured by Israeli forces with live ammunition when they also killed his colleague Shireen Abu Akleh. 

This brings the total number of journalists currently detained in occupation prisons since the beginning of the genocide to 49 journos. These journalists are among 177 journalists who have been arrested and detained since the beginning of the genocide, according to documentation and monitoring conducted by institutions, including those who remain in custody and others who have been released. 

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said in a statement that the occupation authorities continue to escalate their targeting of Palestinian journalists through systematic arrests, in addition to daily targeting of journalists by preventing them and obstructing them from performing their jobs. This is in addition to the ongoing assassinations of journalists in Gaza, which is the bloodiest phase for journalists yet, in an ongoing attempt to target the truth and the Palestinian narrative.

The Prisoner’s Society explained that occupation authorities in the West Bank target journalists through administrative detention, without trial or charge, under the pretext of having a "secret file” that neither the detainee nor their lawyer can see.

Among the total number of detained journalists, 19 of them are being held under administrative detention. The last two journalists to receive administrative detention orders were Samer Khweira and Ibrahim Abu Safia. In addition to administrative detention, the occupation targets journalists through arrests based on what it calls "incitement," meaning they are detained on the grounds of freedom of opinion and expression. Social media platforms have become a tool for suppressing journalists and imposing further control and censorship over their work.

The Prisoner’s Society noted that journalists are subjected to all the systematic crimes faced by all prisoners more generally, including starvation, medical crimes, torture, and numerous forms of abuse.

It is worth noting that the occupation continues to detain dozens of journalists from Gaza under the "Unlawful Combatant" Law, without trial or charge, some of whom remain subject to enforced disappearance.

The Prisoner’s Society renewed its call to the international human rights community to restore its true and necessary role and end the systematic impotence that has cast a shadow over the humanitarian system since the beginning of the genocide, one of the manifestations of which are the crimes committed against prisoners and detainees in Israeli occupation prisons and camps. It also calls for ensuring the protection of journalists and their work, which has been the most prominent tool in exposing the scale of the genocide.