Palestinian-American journalist and mother of three, Naqaa Hamed, has been arrested by Israeli occupation forces (IOF), suspected of “cooperating with an enemy entity”.
The 38-year-old, who was arrested on 15 September, remains in custody, without charge. Her detention has been extended by an Israeli occupation military court until Wednesday, pending further “investigation”.
‘Israeli’ Zionist media, *Ynet*reported:
IDF sources say she is suspected of cooperating with an enemy entity and may also face an espionage investigation.
The IOF stopped Hamed and her camera crew at a military checkpoint in the village of Tuqu, near Bethlehem. They were coming back from a reporting assignment for Turkish state broadcaster TRT about the escalation of settler attacks in Masafer Yatta when their vehicle was stopped.
Although her crew was allowed to leave, Hamed was abducted by the military.
Palestinian journalist has faced numerous attacks
As a freelance journalist, Hamed has worked for numerous outlets including Drop Site News and Iranian affiliated Press TV.
She was targeted and injured by the IOF in both December 2025 and August of this year, while in Qalandia refugee camp. They fired rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades at Hamed, although she was clearly marked as press at the time.
Since she began covering the ongoing siege in the West Bank village of Qusra by illegal Jewish settlers and occupation soldiers, an online campaign has called for Hamed’s arrest. These social media posts have linked Hamed to Iran and questioned why she had not yet been arrested.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is calling on Israeli occupation authorities to immediately release Hamed.
A spokesperson said:
Unsubstantiated espionage allegations must not be used to criminalise journalism, and the systemic harassment and intimidation targeting her work in the occupied West Bank must end.
Israel is ‘the worst enemy of journalists’
Hamed’s arrest speaks not only to the coordination and cooperation between the occupation’s military and its illegal colonial settlers. It also shows the complete disregard the Israeli occupation has for journalists, international law and humanity in general.
In December 2025, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) described ‘Israel’ as “the worst enemy of journalists”. ‘Israel’ will do absolutely anything to try and silence the truth about its apartheid, colonial and genocidal occupation of Palestine, so journalists are one of its main targets, whether in the occupied West Bank or Gaza. Although targeting them is a war crime under international law, this makes no difference to ‘Israel’s’ actions.
Meanwhile international journalists, activists and humanitarian workers are increasingly prevented from entering Palestine and witnessing ‘Israel’s’ atrocities for themselves.
Between 2023 and the first half of 2026, 1,327 incidents of “detention and prevention of coverage” targeting journalists and media crews were documented by the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS). A total of 246 Palestinian journalists have been detained during this time.
The organisation said:
The figures reflect a continuous and systematic pattern of targeting journalistic work, and demonstrate the Israeli occupation’s efforts to restrict journalists’ access to the field and conceal facts and evidence relating to violations and crimes committed against the Palestinian people.
Nearly 40 Palestinian journalists imprisoned
The Israeli occupation has detained four Palestinian journalists so far in September — Muath Amarneh,Sabri Jabrin, Naqaa Hamed and Alaa Al Rimawi.
As of 17 September 2026, 39 Palestinian journalists are imprisoned by the occupation in ‘Israeli’ jails, five of whom are female, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club (PPC).
Twenty-one of these, similar to Naqaa Hamed, are held in administrative detention without trial or clear charges. Any so-called evidence is based on a “secret file” which neither the defendant or their lawyer is permitted to see.
The PPC states that the policies targeting Palestinian journalists are not limited to arrest, but also include “isolation, abuse, torture, harsh detention conditions, and deprivation of medical treatment, in addition to targeting them while carrying out their journalistic work”.
In Gaza, the actions ‘Israel’ takes against journalists have the same purpose: to hide its atrocities. ‘Israel’ has resorted to hunting down Palestinian journalists in the Strip.
Zionist strategy is to silence and kill Gaza’s press
Irene Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion, claims that ‘Israel’ has developed a strategy for ridding Gaza of journalists, and justifying their targeted assassinations.
She said:
They will first delegitimise and discredit a journalist. Smear campaigns are started, accusing the journalists of being terrorist supporters or terrorists themselves. And then they are killed. So it is not just killing journalists, but an attempt is very clearly being made here to kill the story.
The genocidal state has now killed more than 270 journalists in Gaza alone, making it the most dangerous place in the world to be a journalist. Many others have been detained in its torture camps.
Featured image via the Canary
By Charlie Jaay
From Canary via This RSS Feed.