Ramallah-5th June 2024. During the month of May, the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) documented a total of forty (40) violations against media freedoms in Palestine, compared to the total number of violations it documented during the previous month, April of thirty-five (35); representing an increase of five points, that is, 14%.
According to what was documented by field researchers at MADA, the Israeli occupation assaults constituted most of the violations documented in May, totaling thirty-nine (39) out of a total of forty (40) assaults, while Palestinian authorities in the West Bank committed one violation.
Israeli Violations:
The number of Israeli violations and assaults against journalists and media freedoms during the month of May increased compared to the number of violations documented during the previous month, April. A total of thirty-nine (39) offenses and violations committed by the Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were documented during May, constituting 98% of the total documented violations, compared to thirty (30) offenses and violations documented during the month of April.
During May, the nature of the Israeli assaults did not witness much change, as the murders of journalists that began in October 2023 continued, where seven (7) journalists were killed in different circumstances, and physical violations are still at the forefront of violations in terms of their threat to the lives of journalists and media freedoms, in general. This is in addition to the striking complex assaults that some journalists were subjected to, or their exposure to more than one assault within a few days.
Four journalists in Gaza Strip were injured by shrapnel from the missiles fired by the Israeli occupation forces, namely journalist ABDUL KARIM AL-ZUWAIDI, who was injured in the chest, shoulder, and hand, which led to laceration of his hand muscles and weakness by 70%, journalist MAHMOUD ABU SALAM, who was injured by shrapnel from missiles and bombs that target journalists during field coverage, in addition to bruises as a result of falling to the ground while trying to take shelter from a bomb, and journalist MAHMOUD AL-JAMAL, who was wounded by a bullet in the left hand fired by a "Quad Copter" aircraft. This is in addition to documenting the shelling of the residences of journalists HASSAN ISLAIH and NABIL AL-KHATIB by Israeli missiles.
In the West Bank, journalist MOHAMMED NAZZAL was injured by shrapnel from an Israeli sniper's bullet that hit the ground, and the occupation soldiers verbally assaulted two media students in the village of "Jalboun" in Jenin, while the Israeli police assaulted the freelance journalist NADINE JAAFAR and prevented her from covering twice in one week, and the freelance journalist AHMED SAFADI who was directly assaulted by beating and preventing him from entering Al-Aqsa squares.
During the past month, the Israeli occupation forces arrested three journalists, MAHMOUD MUTAN and BILAL AL-TAWEEL, after storming their residences in the cities of Hebron and Ramallah, while the journalist and writer MAHMOUD FATAFTA was arrested while passing through the "Container" Checkpoint, north of Bethlehem, and the journalist ALI AL-SAMOUDI was detained for fifteen minutes in Jenin.
In addition to the above, MADA documented eleven (11) cases of coverage ban, all of which took place in the West Bank, in addition to the closure of Al-Jazeera's Jerusalem Office and the confiscation of its equipment, the destruction of the cameras of Al-Araby TV crew as a result of gunshot wounds during coverage in the city of Tulkarm, and the deletion of materials from the camera of "Palestine" TV cameraman and the phone of a media student at the American University.
Last month, the occupation authorities released three journalists from their prisons, namely AYMAN ABU ARAM, who was released after six months of detention, and HAMZA HAMDAN from Tulkarm, who had been detained since Ramadan. BILAL ARMAN was also released after seven months of administrative detention, while the occupation authorities postponed the trial of journalist SAEED ROKEN until 20th June.
Palestinian Violations:
The number of documented Palestinian violations during the month of May decreased to one (1), compared to five (5) violations documented during the previous month, April. This decrease is represented by 5%. This violation was exemplified by the Palestinian Intelligence Service's summoning of freelance journalist KHALIL DHUIB to complete his interrogation after he had been detained by the Preventive Security Organization for six (6) days last April.
Journalists Martyrsduring the Month of May
|
Journalist Name |
Date of Martyrdom |
Workplace |
|
|
1 |
MUSTAFA HATEM AYYAD |
6th May 2023 |
Cinematographer |
|
2 |
BAHAA RAWHI AKASHA |
11th May 2024 |
Al-Aqsa TV |
|
3 |
HAYEL NAJJAR |
15th May 2024 |
Al-Aqsa TV |
|
4 |
MAHMOUD JAHJOUH |
15th May 2024 |
Palestine Post |
|
5 |
MOHAMMED ALHOUBI |
17th May 2024 |
Sawa Agency |
|
6 |
ABED ELRAOUUF ASALIYA |
28th May 2024 |
Islamic University Cameraman |
|
7 |
OLA DAHDOUUH |
31st May 2025 |
Sawt Al-Watan |
Details of Violations:
(4th May) Israeli occupation soldiers fired bullets at Al-Araby TV crew during field coverage in Deir Al-Ghosoun Town in Tulkarm city and obstructed their work, causing the cameras to be hit and damaged by two bullets and the live broadcast stopped.
According to the investigations of the field researcher of MADA, the crew of "Al-Araby TV", consisting of reporter AMEED SHEHADEH and cameraman RABIE AL-MOUNIR, was present at dawn on Saturday, 500 meters away from one of the houses besieged by the occupation forces in the town of "Deir Al-Ghosoun" in the city of Tulkarm, where the occupation forces were clashing with resistance fighters holed up inside the house.
At about 7:00AM, a military vehicle arrived and stopped at a distance of 30 meters away from the location of the press crew present for the live broadcast, that vehicle stayed until 10:00AM, when the soldiers were watching the place, and then moved around the journalists, and returned to stop in its place. In the meantime, one of the soldiers opened the back door of the vehicle, took out his rifle, and fired three shots at the journalists who threw themselves on the ground, which forced Journalist AMEED SHEHADEH to crawl 50 meters on his stomach on the dirt to get away from the place, while the cameraman RABIE MOUNIR remained on the ground.
After about 20 minutes, the journalist SHEHADEH crawled on his stomach to the location of the cameraman, whose body did not help him crawl, but helped him move away from the place. After about half an hour, the crew was able to reach the cameras after the withdrawal of the occupation soldiers, and it was found that the cameras with them were hit by two bullets that stopped them from working immediately, as the live broadcast stopped at the time of the shooting.
(5th May) On Sunday evening, Israeli warplanes bombed the house of freelance journalist and cameraman HASSAN ABDEL FATTAH ISLAIH (36 years old) in Khan Younis, displacing him and his family.
According to the journalist's testimony to a MADA researcher, F-16 warplanes bombed the journalist's house in "Al-Manara" neighborhood, east of "Khan Yunis", at about 8:30 PM, on Sunday, and he said that he did not know the real reason for the bombing of his house, especially since it consists of four (4) floors and was inhabited by his brothers and mother and does not pose any threat to the Israeli army forces.
The journalist learned about the bombing of the house while he was in the field for coverage purposes, as he was informed that the occupation forces informed his neighbors that the house would be bombed and should be evacuated immediately, knowing that the house was empty and no one had inhabited it since the first day of the war, as his family was displaced to live in tents following personal threats he received from the occupation forces, and incitement against him by the Hebrew and Israeli media due to his field press coverage of the events of October 7.
(5th May) Israeli police raided the office of Al-Jazeera in the Ambassador Hotel in Jerusalem and confiscated its equipment after the occupation authorities issued a decision to close the TV’s Office in Israel unanimously on the evening of the second Sunday of May.
At about 04:00PM, on Sunday, corresponding to 5th May 2024, inspectors of the Ministry of Communications, with the support of the Israeli police, raided the office of Al-Jazeera in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem to close it and confiscate its equipment. The Ambassador Hotel, which hosts several of the TV offices in a number of its rooms was stormed, and inspectors took images of the rooms and confiscated their equipment before the closure decision was hung at their doors.
The paper, stamped with the signature of the Minister of Communications, states that "the TV’s offices at the aforementioned headquarters and any other address in Israel shall be closed, and that the instructions shall be applicable from the date of their delivery for a period of forty-five (45) days, and shall be presented to the president of the District Court or his deputy immediately”.
Al-Jazeera in Israel was suspended following the government's decision, and in a message written on the screen of the broadcast provider of Yes and HOT Companies. The message read “According to the government's decision, the broadcast of Al-Jazeera in Israel has been stopped". Furthermore, the TV’s website has been blocked from Israeli Internet servers.
This move by the occupation authorities comes about a month after the Israeli parliament, known as the Knesset, approved a law on "preventing foreign broadcasters from harming the state’s security” which allows the closure of media outlets under the pretext of harming the state’s security.
(6th May) The Israeli occupation forces prevented a group of journalists from covering the military operation launched on Tulkarm refugee camp in the northern West Bank on Sunday morning, obstructing their work, and threatening them with shooting and arrest if they did not retract from the place.
According to the investigation of the field researcher of MADA, the press crews headed at approximately 12:00PM on Sunday towards "Tulkarm" camp after the occupation forces stormed the camp, and the occupation soldiers and border guard units deployed at the entrance to the camp prevented journalists from approaching to cover the events.
The Israeli soldiers pointed their weapons at the journalists (the French News Agency cameraman JAAFAR SHTAYYEH (56 years old), Al-Araby TV reporter, AMEED ZAYED SHEHADEH (35 years old), Qudsfeed Network reporter NAGHAM BILAL AL-ZAIT (24 years old), Quds Network reporter HAMZA MAHMOUD HAMDAN (23 years old), Al-Jazeera reporter LAITH JAAR (27 years old), the cameraman of the Chinese Agency "Xinhua" journalist NIDAL SHAFIQ SHTAYYEH) and threatened to shoot at them or arrest them if they did not retreat and withdraw from the place, in addition to insulting them with profanity.
Journalists continued to try to enter the camp gradually and intermittently during the six-hour military operation, and amid pressure and attacks, they were unable to enter the camp until after the soldiers withdrew.
(6th May) Journalist MUSTAFA AYYAD was killed by a Quad Copter warplane bomb on Thursday morning while covering the Israeli military operation in Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City.
According to investigations by a field researcher for MADA, journalist MUSTAFA HATEM AYYAD, (19 years old), a short films cameraman about the events of the war, went around 11:30AM, on Thursday to fetch a camera from a friend on Route 8 in southern Gaza to help him in his press coverage after the military operation intensified in the area.
An Israeli Quad Copter drone approached the journalist and threw a small bomb at him, wounding him in the chest and killing him instantly, while another person was injured.
(9th May) An Israeli sniper targeted journalist MOHAMMED NAZZAL in the city of Qalqilya with a bullet whose shrapnel hit his left hand while covering the storming of the city of Qalqilya on Thursday.
According to the investigations of the field researcher of MADA, the occupation forces stormed the neighborhood of "Al-Jaidi" in the city of Qalqilya at about 09:00AM on Thursday, where the journalist MOHAMMED NAZZAL (27 years old) who works with “Al-Fajr Al-Jadid” TV, was covering the storming that targeted one of the houses and surrounded it, and during the coverage and at a distance of more than 70 meters from the occupation forces, the journalist was shot by an Israeli sniper.
One sniper fired a single bullet at the journalist, hitting the ground in front of him, with shrapnel hitting his left hand, causing injuries to his hand.
The raid lasted for about an hour and the journalist continued covering the event as he was the only journalist present at the place, and after the withdrawal of the occupation forces, he went to the hospital and received the appropriate treatment.
(11th 05) BAHAA RAWHI AKASHA, a journalist and editor in the editing department of Al-Aqsa TV, was martyred while he was with his family at his home in the Qasasib neighborhood of Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday afternoon.
According to the testimony of the journalist's brother SOHAIB to the researcher of MADA, an Israeli F-16 warplane fired two missiles at the house of journalist BAHAA RAWHI AKASHA (38 years old) who works in the editing department of Al-Aqsa TV at about 12:45aM on Saturday, which led to the destruction of the house completely on the heads of its residents, where the journalist, his wife, and son, were killed and arrived in pieces at Al-Awda Hospital, along with three (3) of his sons who were injured while his daughter remained under the rubble.
Before the bombing of the house, the journalist was busy preparing one of several reports he had prepared since the beginning of the war on the field and humanitarian conditions in the northern Gaza Strip.
(12th May) The Israeli occupation forces verbally assaulted two students from the Faculty of Mass Communication at the Arab American University and obstructed their work, while they were filming the storming of the town of "Jalboun", east of Jenin, preventing them from coverage, and pulled the phone of one of them and erased the filmed material therefrom, on the morning of Sunday, corresponding to 12th of May.
According to the testimony of student NADINE NAZMI ABU SHAMLEH (21 years old) to the researcher of MADA, she was with her colleague, student WALAA SAWAFTA (21 years old) in the village of "Jalboun" at about 12:30PM on Sunday, corresponding to 12th of May, to prepare a press report to complete the requirements of the radio editing course in front of one of the village houses that the occupation forces used as a military barracks more than a month ago. When they approached the house, the Israeli occupation forces prevented them from approaching and filming at the place, although one of the students told them that they were journalists on a mission, they pointed weapons at them and removed them from the place.
At the same time, the occupation forces had begun to demolish greenhouses and attack farmers in the plain of "Jalboun" and kicked them from their lands. Both students, accompanied by the head of the village council, went to the place to cover the event, and when the soldiers saw them, they went towards them and started shouting at them to leave the place; they even prevented them from filming. They even tried to take the student's mobile phone and asked her to delete the videos and photos she had taken, but she refused to hand them her phone and delete the photos.
After long discussions with the soldiers, she was dragged to the military vehicle to be arrested, but they were unable to do so after the intervention of the head of the village council, so the soldier only took the phone of the student WALAA SAWAFTA and deleted the photos and videos from her phone.
(11th May) The Palestinian Intelligence Service summoned the freelance journalist KHALIL THOWAIB by phone on Tuesday to complete his interrogation following his release in April.
According to his testimony to MADA, the Palestinian Intelligence Service summoned the freelance journalist KHALIL KHALED THOWAIB (26 years old) by phone for an interview on 11th May to complete his interrogation on Thursday 13th May after his release last April. The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) intervened to ensure that the summons was only a summons and that it did not turn into an arrest as happened with him last time, as he was arrested.
The journalist went to the Intelligence Headquarters in the city of "Bethlehem" according to the appointment and was treated in a normal way without beating or insulting. He was asked the same questions in the previous detention, and he spent about an hour at the Intelligence Headquarters and then left.
(15th May) Journalist HAYEL AL-NAJJAR was killed when Israeli warplanes bombed his house in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
According to the testimony of DR. HANI SHAQIQ to a researcher at MADA, the journalist for Al-Aqsa TV, HAYEL THEEB AL-NAJJAR, (44 years old), was killed on Wednesday, corresponding to 15th May while he was in his 3-storey house in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, after warplanes bombed the house and destroyed it completely. The warplanes used a barrel bomb to bomb the house, destroying it and other houses in the area, killing ten (10) civilians and wounding fourteen (14) others inside.
The journalist worked for Al-Aqsa TV in archiving the press reports of his colleagues and working on satellite broadcast reservations for reporters to go out on air from the locations of events. He also worked during the war to film and document events and charitable activities in Jabalia and was a media spokesman in shelters for the displaced.
(16th May) MAHMOUD JAHJOUH, a journalist for Palestine Post, was killed when his apartment was bombed in "Sheikh Radwan" neighborhood in northern Gaza Strip at dawn on Thursday.
According to the testimony of his brother WAEL to the researcher of MADA, the journalist MAHMOUD MOHAMMED JAHJOUH (24 years old) was killed after the occupation missiles bombed his apartment in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood north of Gaza City at about 3:45AM on Thursday, which led to his death, as well as his wife, his mother, and two of his children.
(17th, 24th May) The Israeli occupation police assaulted freelance journalist NADINE JAAFAR twice in a row within one week, obstructing her work and preventing her from covering the events associated with Friday prayers near Al-Asbat Gate in Jerusalem.
According to the testimony of freelance journalist NADINE JAAFAR (20 years old) to the researcher of MADA, she went to Al-Asbat Gate area at about 1:00PM on Friday, 17th May 2024, to cover the atmosphere of Friday prayers in Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City.
While walking in the "Mujahideen Road" in particular, NADINE was filming a video clip when she noticed the assault of the occupation forces on one of the young men and stopped to film him, when one of the soldiers attacked and pushed her, asking her to stay away from the place and not to film.
The following week, at 12:00PM, on Friday, corresponding to 24th May 2024, NADINE was in almost the same place, in Al-Asbat Gate area from outside the fence, standing by the side of the road and filming normally, and without warning, a police officer went to her trying to obstruct her work and prevent her from filming and asking for her identity card. She was then accompanied to walk to the end of the street away from the place, and during that, he asked to check her private phone, but she refused.
(17th May) Journalist MOHAMMED AL-HOUBI was killed after being hit by shrapnel from a reconnaissance missile in Rafah on Friday evening, causing a brain hemorrhage, which led to his death immediately.
According to the investigations of the field researcher of MADA, the editor of "Sawa" News Agency, MOHAMMED AHMAD AL-HOUBI, (24 years old), was present at about 4:20PM on Friday near his home in Rafah, after he went for a quick visit to check on the house, he left for Khan Yunis to escape Israeli missile shelling.
At that time, journalist AL-HOUBI was wounded by shrapnel from a missile in the chest and in the head, which led to a brain hemorrhage, and as soon as he arrived at the Kuwaiti Specialized Hospital, he was declared dead.
(18th May) ABDUL KARIM AL-ZUWAIDI, a photojournalist for Al-Ghad TV, was wounded in various parts of his body by shrapnel from a missile fired at him while covering in Jabalia area of Gaza Strip on Saturday.
According to investigations by MADA field researcher, journalist ABDUL KARIM FARID AL-ZUWAIDI, (22 years old), a photojournalist for Al-Ghad TV for the Fallujah Center for the Displaced, was present on Saturday to cover events there, documenting the suffering of the displaced in shelters fully dressed in a journalistic uniform.
During the coverage, he and a group of civilians around him were targeted with missiles at the gate of the Fallujah Shelter, which is full of displaced people in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, and one of the missiles landed directly next to him, wounding him with shrapnel that caused him many wounds in different parts of his body (chest, shoulder, and laceration of the muscles of the hand). The cameraman walked for more than a kilometer and arrived at Kamal Adwan Hospital due to the absence of ambulances or vehicles to transport him due to the intensity of the shelling in the place.
The injury affected the photographer's ability to continue his work with the same effort as his hand was 70% damaged, according to doctors, and he would not be able to receive treatment abroad due to the closure of the crossing.
(19th May) The Israeli occupation forces obstructed the work of the crew of "Palestine" TV and detained the cameraman THAER FAQOUSA and forced him to delete videos of them while the crew was on "Al-Shuhada" Street in Hebron on Sunday to prepare an interview with a citizen.
According to the investigations of the field researcher of MADA, the crew of "Palestine" TV, consisting of (the director of the office in Hebron, JIHAD AL-QAWASMEH, reporter SARI AL-AWIWI, and photojournalist THAER FAQOUSA), was present at approximately 12:30PM midday on Sunday, at the entrance to the closed "Al-Shuhada" Street in Hebron, 100 kilometers from the military checkpoint called "Checkpoint 56" to interview a citizen who was attacked by the occupation soldiers. Meanwhile, one of the soldiers came out from inside the checkpoint and went to the journalists' location, grabbed the camera with the cameraman FAQOUSA, pulled it out hard, and shouted in Hebrew, "No filming here”.
The soldier went to the gate of the checkpoint with the seized camera, and the journalist FAQOUSA followed him into the checkpoint, there the soldier asked the cameraman THAER about the reason for filming this young man, and told him, "You will not get out of there before you delete the pictures and the video", under the pretext that it is forbidden to be in the area, so he deleted the videos from the camera, and after he finished, the soldier checked it to make sure he did, after which he allowed the cameraman to leave the checkpoint and take the camera.
(20th May) An Israeli warplane bombed the house of freelance journalist NABIL AL-KHATIB in Jabalya refugee camp on Monday evening, destroying the house completely, killing his daughter and mother, and injuring fifteen (15) people inside the house.
According to journalist NABIL AL-KHATIB's testimony to a researcher at MADA, he was preparing an entertaining journalistic work at about 6:00PM on Monday, which is a small theatrical sketch for his grandchildren as part of his family plan to change the atmosphere of war among young people and share this artistic work through social media. The journalist went out of the house for less than 100 meters only to get a mobile from his friend to use in filming when the Israeli warplanes bombed his two-story house, directly and without warning, which led to the death of his daughter, mother and fifteen (15) members of his family.
(20th May) Israeli occupation forces arrested journalist MAHMOUD AL-MUTAN from his family home in Ramallah and transferred him to Ofer Detention Center at dawn on Monday on charges of incitement via Facebook.
According to the testimony of his brother MUTHANNA to the researcher of MADA, an Israeli occupation force stormed the family home of the journalist of "Watan" TV, MAHMOUD ADEL AL-MUTAN (22 years old) in the village of "Burqa" in the city of Ramallah at about 2:00AM on Monday, where the soldiers surrounded the house and as soon as one of the journalist's brothers opened the door, the soldiers rushed inside and arrested the journalist immediately after verifying his identity and seizing two mobile phones for him. He was taken out of the house handcuffed with a metal zip tie into the military jeep.
HaMoked informed the journalist's family that he was presented to the Israeli police at their headquarters in the settlement of Binyamin and then transferred to Ofer prison, where his family later learned that the journalist had been interrogated for "incitement via Facebook."
The journalist is in Ofer detention center and a court hearing has been scheduled for him on 2nd June on charges of incitement.
(23rd May) Israeli occupation forces detained the photographer of Al-Quds newspaper Ali Al-Samoudi for about a quarter of an hour on Thursday in the city of Jenin, where they searched him and checked his identity card and press card before letting him go.
According to Mada's field investigations, ALI SADIQ SAMOUDI, (57 years old), a cameraman for Al-Quds Newspaper, went on Thursday at around 2:00PM, from downtown Jenin to the Interior Roundabout to document the events there, where the Israeli occupation forces stormed the area for three days, killing and injuring many citizens.
Upon arrival, the journalist, who was fully dressed in press uniform, was detained for about a quarter of an hour, where Israeli occupation soldiers searched him, checked his identity card and press card, and then allowed him to go.
(24th May) MAHMOUD ABU SALAMA, a journalist for Al-Araby TV, was wounded in the face and in different parts of his body when he was targeted by a Quad Copter missile while covering the shelling of Hamdan Square in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday morning.
According to the journalist's testimony to the researcher of MADA, the reporter of "Al-Arabi" TV MAHMOUD NAIM ABU SALAMA (34 years old), wearing a full press uniform, at about 9:30AM on Friday, went to the Hamdan Square area in Fallujah area in Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, to prepare a press report for "Al-Arabi" TV about the bombing of the occupation warplanes in the area, and while taking some pictures, warplanes of the type “Quad Copter” fired missiles at the place, which led to sustaining varying injuries to his face and various parts of his body as a result of shrapnel wounds. The journalist was transferred to a medical point at Hafsa school for treatment as hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip stopped working because they were surrounded by Israeli vehicles.
On Tuesday 21st May, journalist MAHMOUD ABU SALAMA suffered minor bruises on his hands and legs as a result of falling to the ground while trying to take shelter from a bomb fired by a drone near him while he was covering next to Jabalia police station.
It is noteworthy that the journalist had received a call from the occupation forces on the third day of the war asking him to stop working as a journalist after covering what was known at the time as the massacre of "Al-Trance" in Jabalia camp, which killed many. Furthermore, the Israeli army officer threatened him directly "If you do not stop journalistic work, we will kill you, even if you are under the rubble" in an explicit expression of his death, and this is confirmed by the repeated targeting of him.
(27th May) The Israeli police beat freelance journalist AHMAD AL-SAFADI on the face and neck and prevented him from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque to participate in the funeral of his colleague's father on Monday afternoon, just because he is a journalist.
According to investigations by a field researcher for MADA, freelance journalist AHMED SAFADI went to Al-Aqsa Mosque at around 12:00PM, on Monday through Al-Asbat Gate to participate in the funeral of journalist KHADER SHAHEEN's father.
When he arrived at the scene, Israeli occupation soldiers stopped him at the door and prevented him from entering, SAFADI told them that he wanted to participate in the funeral, but they prevented him from entering, while three policemen assaulted him by beating him on the neck and face and forcing him to move away.
SAFADI did not undergo medical treatment, but this ban came within the framework of preventing him from practicing his journalistic work inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, as it is clear that there is a circular with his picture and name to the occupation police at all the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
(28th May) Photojournalist ABDUL RAOUF ASALIYA was killed by shrapnel from a reconnaissance missile targeting a group of displaced people at an UNRWA school in the city of Jabalia on Tuesday morning.
According to investigations by MADA field researcher, journalist ABDUL RAOUF SHARIF ASALIYA, (19 years old), a photojournalist at the Islamic University, was killed at around 10:45AM, on Tuesday after a reconnaissance plane targeted a group of citizens at UNRWA's Arkan School in Jabalya.
The cameraman was hit directly in the heart by shrapnel from the missile, killing him instantly.
(28th May) An Israeli Quad Copter targeted MAHMOUD AL-JAMAL, a photojournalist for Palestine News Agency, with a bullet in the palm of the left hand, after which he underwent surgery at the field hospital in Al-Mawasi on Friday evening.
According to the investigations of MADA field researcher, MAHMOUD BASSAM AL-JAMAL (29 years old) who works for "Palestine News Agency" was present at about 5:00PM on Friday at the Emirati Hospital in Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood, west of the city of "Rafah", along with a group of journalists to cover the military operation in the city, where it was decided to evacuate the hospital of patients and medical staff due to the increased danger with the intensification of the Israeli bombardment and the approach of drones to the hospital.
During his exit, he was targeted by a Quad Copter drone belonging to the Israeli forces, which fired bullets directly at him from a distance of several meters, which led to his injury with a bullet in the left hand, after which he underwent surgery at the American Field Hospital in Al-Mawasi area, and the journalist had reached it on foot due to the lack of ambulances, and then he was transferred to another field hospital of the Red Cross in the area of Mawasi "Khan Yunis" to complete treatment.
(29th May) Israeli occupation forces arrested freelance journalist BILAL AL-TAWEEL after raiding his home in Hebron at dawn on Wednesday and taking him to an unknown destination.
According to his brother HAMDAN's testimony to MADA researcher, at approximately 2:00AM on Wednesday, Israeli occupation soldiers raided the house of freelance journalist BILAL HAMED ALI AL-TAWEEL (30 years old) in the Jabal Abu Rumman area in Hebron. His hands were held back with a plastic zip tie, and they put a cloth blindfold over his eyes, and he was taken to an unknown destination.
(30th May) Israeli occupation forces arrested journalist and writer DR. MAHMOUD FATAFTA while he was passing through the "Container" Checkpoint, north of Bethlehem, on Thursday afternoon, and interrogated him at the Ma'ale Adumim Center about his posts on his Facebook page for "incitement".
According to the testimony of his wife RASHA FATAFTA to MADA researcher, the Israeli occupation forces arrested journalist and writer MAHMOUD FATAFTA at approximately 3:00PM on Thursday while he was passing through the military checkpoint "Container" north of Bethlehem. The soldiers stopped and removed the vehicle he was traveling in, and detained him in a room of reinforced concrete, where he was transferred to the Ma'ale Adumim Police Interrogation Center east of Jerusalem.
MADA's researcher learned from the family of journalist FATAFTA later that the journalist's arrest came after he returned from a meeting at the Arab American University in Jenin, and that he was interrogated about posts on his Facebook page under the pretext of "incitement" and it was decided to bring him to trial on Sunday, 2nd June 2024.
(31st May) Journalist and presenter OLA AL-DAHDOUH was killed as a result of the bombing of the house she was displaced to in Gaza City on Friday evening.
According to the testimony of MOHANNAD, the journalist's brother, to the researcher of MADA, the journalist and presenter of programs in the radio station "Sawt Al-Watan" OLA ABDEL WAHAB DAHDOUH (25 years old) was in a house next to her house in Gaza City belonging to AL-HADDAD family, to which she had recently displaced, and at about 7:00PM, the house was bombed by an F16 warplane, which led to the collapse of parts of it on the journalist's head, causing the amputation of her left foot immediately, and wounding her with a large shrapnel on her left side.
The journalist was transferred to the "Baptist" hospital in the city, and within minutes it was announced that she and three other people who were with her were killed, in addition to seriously wounding her husband.
