Ramallah / PNN /
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) on Monday held Israeli authorities fully responsible for what it described as “war crimes” systematically committed against Palestinian journalists, saying Israel treats Palestinian journalism as a “strategic threat” that must be eliminated in a bid to silence witnesses and conceal the truth.
A report issued by the PJS Freedoms Committee documented the arrest of 147 journalists, including around 20 women who were subjected to assaults and both physical and psychological torture, between October 2023 and the end of July 2025.
The syndicate also recorded the killing of 240 journalists in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of Israel’s military offensive, some of whom were killed along with their families in deliberate strikes on their homes.
The report highlighted that dozens of journalists remain in administrative detention without charge or trial, while others face systematic and aggressive practices, including beatings, denial of medical treatment, solitary confinement, and confiscation of press equipment.
According to the report, the plight of imprisoned journalists reflects the repressive nature of the occupation, with most held under administrative detention in clear violation of international humanitarian law. It further noted that some journalists have been subjected to enforced disappearance for months, facing harsh conditions such as denial of family visits, torture, and deliberate medical neglect.
The PJS stressed that the killing, torture, and targeting of journalists amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity that require Israel’s prosecution before the International Criminal Court. It added that these actions constitute grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and UN Security Council Resolution 2222.
The syndicate said the policies form part of a systematic effort to conceal evidence of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank.
The report reiterated the PJS’s demands for the immediate release of all imprisoned journalists, the abolition of administrative detention, the establishment of an independent international investigation into Israeli crimes against Palestinian media, the imposition of international sanctions on Israeli leaders and officials responsible, and urgent international protection for journalists working in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Commenting on the report, PJS Freedoms Committee head Mohammed al-Lahham said the continued silence of the international community “amounts to complicity with the occupation in its crimes against Palestinian journalism.”
He added that Israel’s policies show it does not merely target individuals but seeks to criminalise Palestinian journalism as a whole by demonising journalists and labelling them as “inciters,” in an effort to convince the world that “a camera is more dangerous than a rifle,” and that Palestinian journalism is a strategic threat to be eliminated by all means, including arrest and assassination.
