The Palestinian Prisoners Club denounced this Wednesday that 40 Palestinian journalists, including five women, remain detained in Israeli prisons under conditions classified as harsh, after occupation forces arrested photojournalist Mohamed Awad in the occupied West Bank.
The number was reached following the arrest of Mohamed Awad carried out by occupation forces in Beitunia, near Ramala, in the occupied West Bank this Wednesday.
The detention of Mohamed Awad, a 38-year-old photojournalist and contributor to the Agence France-Presse (AFP), occurred during an early morning raid in Beitunia, located near Ramallah. Israeli occupation forces assaulted his residence, broke down the entrance doors, and ransacked his personal belongings before transferring him blindfolded and bound. Palestinian news networks broadcasted images of the military operation, showing the reporter being marched away by armed soldiers with his hands tied behind his back.
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This arrest raises the total number of currently imprisoned media workers to 40, including five women. Since the beginning of the massive military aggression against Gaza in October 2023, occupation forces have arrested over 250 Palestinian journalists. While 210 of these communicators have been released, the remaining 40 continue to endure documented physical abuse.
Israeli forces have detained Palestinian journalist Mohammed Awad, who worked for news outlets including AFP, in the latest arrest of a reporter in the West Bank https://t.co/52bHuKK9dX pic.twitter.com/glxNPghkDx
— Arab News (@arabnews) August 12, 2026
Human Rights monitors report that 19 journalists of the 40 currently detained are held under administrative detention. This controversial mechanism allows the Israeli military to imprison individuals indefinitely without formal charges, public trials, or access to legal defense.
The detentions are renewed under the pretext of secret security files that neither the detainees nor their legal representatives can review. Additionally, three journalists remain under strict house arrest while awaiting judicial decisions.
The number of Palestinian journalists in Israeli prisons has increased to 40, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS), following the arrest of journalist Muhammad Awad in the occupied West Bank’s Ramallah this morning.
LIVE updates: https://t.co/2zyehUUcrI pic.twitter.com/hymx0lOO24
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) August 12, 2026
Systematic Abuse Exposed
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has documented a catastrophic toll on the Palestinian press, with over 260 journalists killed since October 2023. This total includes two communicators who died while in Israeli custody under suspicious circumstances. Furthermore, reporters Nidal al-Wahidi and Haitham Abdel Wahed remain victims of forced disappearance, with their locations and physical status hidden by occupation authorities since their initial detention.
Imprisoned media professionals face systematic human rights violations, including planned starvation, severe medical negligence, physical torture, systematic mistreatment, and sexual abuse. Israeli military tribunals routinely use “incitement” charges to criminalize standard journalistic coverage published on digital platforms and social media networks. These judicial maneuvers aim to suppress independent reporting and punish journalists who document violations against the population.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club has formally requested immediate intervention from international human rights organizations to protect press workers in the occupied territories. The systematic targeting of reporters represents a deliberate attempt by the occupying power to silence independent coverage, censor evidence of war crimes, and obscure the humanitarian crisis resulting from colonial expansion and military aggression in Palestine.
The use of administrative detention as a censorship tool reveals the deliberate strategy of the occupation to silence independent voices that document the reality of the Palestinian people. Journalists in the occupied territories operate under constant threat, facing arrest, physical attacks and the criminalization of their professional work. In this sense, Human Rights organizations warn about the increase in arbitrary detentions, torture and the use of the crime of “incitement” to censor Palestinian journalists in the occupied territories, a mechanism that violates international law and the fundamental right to freedom of expression.
The case of Mohamed Awad joins a long list of communicators persecuted for exercising their profession, while the international community remains largely passive in the face of systematic violations against press freedom in Palestine. The demand for the release of all detained journalists and the cessation of persecution against the press grows stronger each day, as the world witnesses the relentless attempt to erase the Palestinian narrative from the global media landscape.
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