The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has documented at least 108 attacks by Israeli forces and illegal settlers against Palestinian journalists and media workers in the occupied West Bank in July alone.
In a statement on Sunday, the syndicate’s Freedoms Committee said the violations included detentions, beatings, interrogations, obstruction of journalistic coverage, and the seizure or destruction of press equipment.
The committee said the violations had made it increasingly difficult for journalists to document Israeli military raids and settler violence on the ground.
Brief detentions and restrictions on reporting accounted for the largest category of violations, with 58 cases recorded during the month.
The committee also documented 11 attacks by settlers against journalists. These included physical assaults, shoving, and threats, mostly while journalists were covering settler attacks and military raids.
In 12 cases, Israeli forces fired stun grenades or tear gas at journalists, causing some to suffocate, according to the committee.
Six journalists were beaten, while four sustained bleeding injuries, including injuries caused by shrapnel, as they were covering developments in the Gaza Strip. Two other journalists were detained and four were interrogated about their reporting.
The syndicate recorded four raids on journalists’ homes or media offices, including the closure of one media outlet.
It also documented three cases in which journalistic equipment was confiscated or destroyed and two incidents in which footage was deleted.
Two journalists were expelled from the vicinity of al-Aqsa Mosque in the holy occupied city of al-Quds, the committee said.
The syndicate called for journalists to be allowed to work “free from threats, attacks, and pursuit” and demanded accountability for those responsible.
The July figures add to a broader toll on journalists since the start of the Israeli regime’s war of genocide on Gaza in October 2023.
Rights groups have documented that more than 270 journalists have been killed in Israeli attacks during that period, alongside a sweeping campaign of arbitrary press detentions.
