Ramallah – September 5th, 2024. Attacks against media freedoms in Palestine continued at high and extremely dangerous rates during the past month of August, and remained almost at the same level as of July.
The month of August 2024 witnessed a total of 105 attacks against media freedoms in Palestine, 104 of which were committed by the Israeli occupation, while the Instagram platform, affiliated with META, committed a single violation, which was the closure of the official account of journalist AMR TABASH in the Gaza Strip. It is worth noting that last July witnessed 103 violations, 102 of which were committed by the Israeli occupation, while the X platform committed one violation.
Israeli Violations:
During the month of August, the Israeli occupation forces and authorities committed a total of 104 crimes and attacks against media freedoms in Palestine, representing 99% of the total violations committed during the month. This number is close to the number of documented violations in the previous month, which witnessed 102 Israeli crimes. Therefore, the seriousness and gravity of the Israeli attacks targeting journalists during the month of August remained the same, if not worse, as 10 journalists were killed, and dozens of journalists were targeted with live ammunition, tear gas canisters and stun grenades to intimidate them and prevent them from covering the events.
The occupation forces committed these attacks deliberately and systematically against journalists, despite the clarity of their “professional identities” as journalists in most cases, in order to cover up what the occupation forces and apparatuses committed against civilian citizens in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank as well during the war that is still ongoing in the Strip for the 333rd consecutive day.
Last August, the occupation forces committed crimes of killing ten journalists in the Gaza Strip, including a journalist who was martyred eight months ago and whose body was recovered from under the rubble during the month of August. TRT Agency photographers MOHAMMED AL-ZAANIN and MOHAMMED KARAJAH were injured by shrapnel in the left eye and in the left elbow while covering the events in Khan Younis. Also, Quds Feed correspondent NAGHAM ZAYET suffered a fracture in her right foot after falling to the ground near the entrance of Tulkarm camp while fleeing from the occupation soldiers, Journalist SALMA AL-QADDOUMI was shot in the back while covering the incident in the Gaza Strip, and Israeli military vehicles attempted to run over Al Jazeera crew members during coverage in Tubas. Hours later, the car of Associated Press photographer MAJDI ISHTIA and his colleague ALI ISHTIA were subjected to an attempted run-over while they were heading to cover the same incident in the city.
The occupation forces arrested journalist HAMZA AL-ZAYOUD from his home in the town of "Silat Al-Harithiya" west of the city of Jenin, in addition to arresting freelance journalist RAMEZ AWAD from his home in the village of "Jifna" north of the city of Ramallah during the raid on the village. They also arrested freelance journalist ASHWAQ AWAD from the Ibrahimi Mosque square while she was covering events in the city of Hebron.
As part of the occupation's continuous and permanent efforts to obstruct the work of journalists in all possible ways, the occupation forces detained journalist IHAB AL-ALAMI and trainee AHMED AL-ALAMI near the "Karmi Tzur" settlement near the city of Halhul for three hours. They also detained Al-Ghad channel correspondent KHALED BADIR for about an hour at the "Anab" military checkpoint east of the city of Tulkarm to prevent coverage. They detained freelance journalist AMER AL-SHALUDI near the Ibrahimi Mosque for 10 minutes.
On the other hand, the occupation forces targeted 60 journalists with live ammunition, tear gas canisters and stun grenades to prevent them from covering the events. They also directly prevented 15 journalists from covering events in different parts of the West Bank, especially the cities of the northern West Bank (Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus) and their camps, which witnessed heated events during the last third of the month as a result of the occupation forces storming them, which took place amidst the firing of live ammunition, stun grenades and tear gas canisters, in addition to the occupation soldiers’ deliberate acts of sabotage of citizens’ property and the destruction of infrastructure, including electricity and water networks.
In addition to targeting to prevent coverage, the occupation forces confiscated equipment from two journalists in the West Bank and destroyed the car of another journalist in the Gaza Strip, and inciting the Israeli army spokesman "AVICHAY ADRAEE" against journalist ANAS AL-SHARIF in the Gaza Strip. The occupation authorities also banned the work of Al-Mayadeen TV inside Israel for the second time for 45 days under the pretext of harming state security. On August 19th, the occupation authorities renewed the administrative detention of journalist BUSHRA AL-TAWIL for six months.
Martyred Journalists during the Month of July
|
Journalist Name |
Martyrdom Date |
Agency |
|
|
|
Mohammed Abu Saada |
August 6th, 2024 |
Sadaa Sharqia Network |
|
|
Abdullah Al-Soussi |
August 9th, 2024 |
Al-Aqsa Channel |
|
|
Tamim Ahmed Muammar |
August 9th, 2024 |
Voice of Palestine |
|
|
Ibrahim Marwan Muhareb |
August 19th, 2024 |
Freelance Journalist |
|
|
Mohammed Faraj Allah |
August 21st, 2024 |
Palestinian Civil Defense cameraman – was martyred 8 months ago |
|
|
Hamza Murtaja |
August 22nd, 2024 |
Record Media Co. |
|
7- |
Hussam Al-Dabaki |
August 22nd, 2024 |
Al-Quds Channel |
|
8- |
Ali Nayef Taaima |
August 26th, 2024 |
Awdah TV |
|
9- |
Mohamed Abdel Fattah Abdel Rabbah |
August 28th, 2024 |
Almanara Media |
|
10- |
Samia Abdel Fattah Abdel Rabbah |
August 28th, 2024 |
Bait Al-Maqdis Organization |
Details of violations:
August 3rd. The occupation forces targeted the press crews with tear gas canister near the main entrance of Tulkarm refugee camp while covering the storming of the city on Saturday, which obstructed their work and prevented them from covering the incident. Also, Journalist NAGHAM ZAYET also suffered a fracture in her right foot after falling to the ground while fleeing from the tear gas canister that the occupation forces fired at the journalists.
According to the statement of Quds News Network correspondent HAMZA MAHMOUD HAMDAN (23 years old) to MADA researcher, the press crews were present at around 11:45 AM on Saturday near the northern entrance of Tulkarm refugee camp to cover the storming after the announcement of a drone bombing of a number of resistance fighters.
During the coverage, the occupation forces fired tear gas canisters targeting journalists and media crews, including: Al-Araby TV crew, correspondent AMID SHEHADEH and photographer RABIE MUNIR, Al-Jazeera correspondent LAITH JAAR, Quds Network correspondent HAMZA HAMDAN, Roya TV crew, correspondent HAFEZ SABRA and photographer MAHMOUD FAWZI, TRT correspondent MUSAB AL-KHATIB, Quds Feed correspondent NAGHAM ZAYET, Reuters photographer RANEEN SAWAFTA, journalist WAFIYA ABDUL HADI, journalist RAGHAD SALAMA, journalist WAFA AWAD, journalist MOHAMMED AL-FAR, journalist ABDEL NASSER ZAGHLOUL, journalist MOEEN SHADID, journalist JAAFAR ISHTIA, journalist NIDAL ISHTIA, journalist MUJAHID AL-SAADI, journalist HAMZA ZIOUD, journalist MISHAAL ABU AL-RUB, and the Al Jazeera English crew, journalist MOHAMMED YOUNIS, journalist SAMI AL-LIDAWI, journalist MOHAMMED ATIQ, journalist ALAA BADARNA, and some journalists suffered from suffocation as a result of inhaling the tear gas.
Quds Feed correspondent NAGHAM BILAL ZAYET (24 years old) told MADA that she was at the entrance of Tulkarm refugee camp to cover the occupation forces’ storming of the city and its camp, and at around 12:00 noon, the occupation forces fired tear gas canisters near the camp to disperse the demonstrators and journalists.
During that, the journalist suffered from suffocation, and she already suffers from asthma, so she tried to escape from the place, and while running, she fell to the ground, which led to her right foot being twisted, although she did not feel any pain immediately after the fall, but she later noticed swelling in the foot and toes, which had changed color to blue.
The journalist went to the hospital the next day and it turned out that she had a broken foot, where she received the necessary treatment.
August 5th. The occupation forces targeted a number of journalists with tear gas canisters during their storming of the vicinity of Joseph's Tomb in the city of Nablus at dawn on Monday, which led to the suffocation of a number of them.
According to the follow-up of MADA researcher, the occupation forces targeted journalists with tear gas canisters at dawn on Monday while they were in the vicinity of "Joseph's Tomb" in the city of Nablus, where a number of them were unable to wear protective masks, which exposed them to suffocation, and they were transferred by ambulance to receive treatment in the hospital. They are photojournalist FARES ODEH, Al Jazeera crew, photographer LOUAY SAEED and Al Jazeera reporter MOHAMMED ATRASH, and the Quds News Network reporter ABDULLAH AL-BAHASH.
August 5th. The occupation forces targeted journalists and press crews with live ammunition and tear gas canisters while covering the storming of the city of Jenin on Monday afternoon.
According to the testimony of the Quds News Network correspondent, MUHAMMAD SAMIR ABED (29 years old), to the MADA Center, the journalists went to cover the occupation forces’ storming of the Gulf Exchange store on Abu Bakr Street in the center of Jenin at around 4:00 PM on Monday. After their arrival, at 5:00 PM, the occupation forces targeted the journalists with tear gas canisters to block their vision and prevent them from covering the events of the storming, which forced them to retreat back towards the “Cinema” roundabout.
At around 6:00 PM, the occupation soldiers began firing randomly at the journalists, forcing them to take cover in the Palestinian police headquarters located in the area. Despite being out of sight of the soldiers, the shooting continued in the area, and the camera of the Al Jazeera crew was broken.
The siege of the journalists continued for about a quarter of an hour until they were able to leave the place. Among them were: MUHAMMAD ABED, a correspondent for the Quds News Network; the Palestine TV crew AMNA BILALO and TARIQ AL-HOURANI; the journalist MUJAHID AL-SAADI and HAMZA ZIOUD from the Palestine Today TV crew; the freelance journalist AMR MANASRA; the Quds Feed correspondent JARRAH KHALAF; the freelance journalist OBADA TAHAINEH; the freelance journalist SHATHA HANAYSHA; the journalist MISHAAL ABU AL-RUB; the journalist MUHAMMAD AL-ATRASH and LUAY AL-SAEED from Al-Jazeera TV.
August 6th. MOHAMMED ABU SAADA was killed when his tent was bombed near his destroyed home in the town of Abasan al-Jadida, east of Khan Yunis, on Tuesday evening.
According to the statement of journalist MAZEN AL-BREIM, the photographer of the "Sada Al-Sharqiya" network was martyred at around 5:35 PM on Tuesday, as a result of the bombing of his tent near his home in the town of "Abasan Al-Jadida" east of Khan Yunis city in the southern Gaza Strip.
Journalist ABU SAADA arrived at Nasser Hospital in a civilian vehicle in disarray, as the missile hit him directly, killing him and three others from the family.
August 8th. The Israeli occupation forces detained two journalists near the city of Halhul, north of the Hebron Governorate, at dawn on Thursday, for three hours, obstructing their work and preventing them from reaching the scene of the event in the city of "Dura" and covering it.
According to the testimony of freelance journalist IHAB AL-ALAMI to a researcher at MADA Center, the journalist, accompanied by trainee journalist AHMED AL-ALAMI, headed at around 5:00 AM on Thursday in his Seat Leon vehicle, bearing a press badge, from the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, to the city of Dura in the south, in order to cover the occupation forces’ besieging of the home of the martyr MOAMEN MASALMA’s family in preparation for blowing it up.
As soon as the two journalists arrived near the settlement of "Karmei Tzur" near the city of Halhul, a military jeep stopped their vehicle, from which four soldiers got out. One of them asked the journalist IHAB to turn off the engine and hand him the keys, while another soldier asked him to get out of the vehicle and photographed him and his vehicle and asked him for his ID and the ID of the trainee journalist AL-ALAMI and asked him where he was going. The journalist replied that he was going to cover a journalistic event in the city of Dura.
The soldiers inspected the vehicle and confiscated video and photographic cameras, which they took to the military jeep, while three soldiers remained near the vehicle. The journalists were detained on the road until 8:00 AM, when the military jeep arrived, returned the cameras, and asked them to leave. At around 8:30 AM, the journalists arrived at the site of the house in the city of Dura, where the army forces had finished blowing up the house and withdrawn from the area.
August 9th. Journalist ABDULLAH AL-SOUSSI was killed during a bombing that targeted a group of citizens in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, on Friday afternoon.
According to the statement of MAHER AL-SOUSSI, the journalist’s father, the journalist ABDULLAH MAHER AL-SOUSSI, who works in the news department of Al-Aqsa TV as a language editor and news report preparer, was with a number of family members near his tent in the “Mawasi” area of Khan Yunis at around 2:30 PM on Friday when a drone fired a missile that directly hit them, killing the journalist, his three children and his brother WALID. They were transferred to Nasser Hospital in civilian cars and an ambulance.
August 9th. Journalist TAMIM AHMED MUAMMAR and a number of his family members were killed on Friday afternoon when Israeli warplane bombed his home in Khan Yunis.
According to the testimony of MUHAMMAD ABU SHAHMA, a relative of the journalist, the editor of the Voice of Palestine radio, TAMIM AHMED MUAMMAR (42 years old), his mother, his wife and a number of his children were martyred at around 2:50 PM on Friday while they were inside his home in the center of Khan Younis, after a warplane directly bombed his house, destroying it and burying it under the rubble for more than an hour before citizens were able to extract him and transport him in a civilian car to Nasser Hospital.
August 10th. Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee on Saturday incited against journalist ANAS AL-SHARIF in the Gaza Strip, accusing him of lying and spreading false news regarding the number of victims of the massacre of the followers.
According to the follow-up of the MADA Center researcher, the Al Jazeera correspondent in the northern Gaza Strip, ANAS AL-SHARIF, was subjected to a systematic incitement campaign by the Israeli army spokesman, Avichay Adraee, through a post on the X platform, in which he claimed that the journalist was exaggerating the information he was showing on the channel regarding the number of victims of the "Al-Tabi'in" massacre in the "Al-Daraj" neighborhood east of Gaza City, which claimed the lives of more than 100 people. He accused the journalist of lying and spreading false news, and that the coverage of the massacre was just a play. This incitement led to a real threat to the journalist's life, as the post was followed by large comments from settlers calling for his killing.
During his testimony, journalist ANAS AL-SHARIF considered the provocative post by the Israeli army spokesman to be a real threat to his life, as the post was accompanied by many comments from settlers calling for his killing. This post was preceded by an Israeli threat calling for the journalist to be bombed and killed, as dozens of other journalists were killed.
August 11th. The Israeli occupation forces arrested journalist HAMZA ZIOUD after raiding his home in the town of "Al-Silah Al-Harithiya" west of the city of Jenin at dawn on Sunday 11/08.
According to the testimony of AHMED ZIOUD, the brother of journalist HAMZA NADIM ZIOUD (23 years old), to MADA, the occupation forces stormed the house of JOURNALIST HAMZA ZIOUD in the town of “Al-Silah Al-Harithiya” in the city of Jenin at around 4:30 AM on Sunday. The soldiers entered the house and detained the family in a room and asked them not to leave. Then they arrested HAMZA and withdrew from the place.
August 11th. The Israeli occupation authorities banned Al-Mayadeen TV from operating inside Israel for the second time for a period of 45 days, by decision of the Minister of Communications in the country, on the pretext of harming state security.
The text of the decision issued on August 11th, 2024, stated: “After the approval of the Prime Minister and the Government, and as a result of the harm to state security on the part of Al-Mayadeen Channel, a law was signed - Hard Modem De Door Hatshef - for Internet service providers.”
The text of the decision also stated, “Any person or institution that possesses devices used to deliver the channel’s content or to its supervisors as specified by law will have the devices used to deliver the content confiscated and seized for a period of 45 days effective from the date of issuance.”.
This decision prohibits all Internet users from accessing the channel’s nine websites on the Internet. Thus, the security agencies implementing the decision have the right to confiscate the equipment of any office specializing in providing media services, which will hinder the work of journalists and companies providing media services and will expose many journalists to legal and security accountability from the Occupation State.
The occupation authorities had issued an order to ban the work of Al-Mayadeen channel during the month of November of last year 2023, and during the ban period, the Minister of Communications in the Occupation State worked to issue a new decision from the government with the approval of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
August 12th. Instagram administration closed the official account of journalist AMR TABASH from Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, who works for BBC News.
According to the statement of journalist AMR TABASH (27 years old), the Instagram platform administration sent him a message stating that the account was temporarily closed due to his violation of the platform’s standards, despite the fact that all of the journalist’s posts are documentary videos filmed from the field about the difficult humanitarian conditions in the southern Gaza Strip, especially the continuous bombing of civilian homes, which leads to the martyrdom of many of them, as well as scenes documenting the martyrs and wounded, the condition of the displaced and homeless, and the endless suffering in the Strip.
August 13th. The Israeli Occupation Forces detained journalist KHALED BADIR at the "Anab" checkpoint for an hour on Tuesday evening, searched his equipment, and then released him.
According to the testimony of Al-Ghad TV correspondent KHALED SALEH BADIR (35 years old) to MADA, the occupation forces detained him while passing through the Anab checkpoint at around 3:45 PM on Tuesday for an hour and searched his journalistic equipment after asking him about the media institution he works for and the nature of his work there and released him after an hour of detention.
August 14th. Israeli occupation soldiers targeted journalists NASSER ISHTIA and REEM DARAGHMEH by firing live ammunitions at their car while they were heading to the city of Tubas in the northern West Bank to cover an incident where a military jeep exploded. A military jeep also hit the car of journalists MAJDI ISHTIA and ALI ISHTIA, which was marked with a press badge, while they were heading to cover the same incident on Wednesday.
SIPA USA photographer NASSER SULEIMAN ISHTIA (54 years old) reported that he headed to Tubas city at around 8:00 AM on Wednesday morning with trainee journalist REEM DARAGHMEH (24 years old) to cover the incident of the military jeep explosion there. At around 9:15 AM, while the journalist was in his vehicle, an occupation soldier got out of the military jeep and started shooting into the sky in order to intimidate the journalists.
At that moment, the journalist got out of the vehicle and started shouting at the soldier that they were journalists. The soldier then fired into the street in front of the journalists’ feet again, and shouted at them to leave the area or they would put themselves in danger.
After a few minutes, the journalists left the place to the town of Tamoun for another coverage.
At around 09:30 AM on the same day, Associated Press photographer MAJDI MOHAMMED ISHTIA (39 years old) was heading with freelance journalist ALI HUSSEIN ISHTIA (35 years old) in his car, which bore the press badge in Arabic and English, to cover the same event in the city of Tubas. When they arrived at the entrance to the city, the occupation vehicles advanced I the opposite side of traffic, so MAJDI turned to the right, slowed down the vehicle, and tried to stop and open the way for the military jeeps to pass. The jeep advanced towards them completely parallel to his car, hitting it from the front, as he got off the main street and quickly moved out of its lane to avoid the severity of the collision.
August 15th. The occupation forces targeted journalists with tear gas canisters at dawn on Thursday, and a military vehicle attempted to run them over while they were covering the storming of "Joseph's Tomb" in the city of Nablus, north of the West Bank.
According to the testimony of freelance photographer ABDUL RAHMAN ALI AL-DUMAIDI (21 years old) to the MADA Center, the occupation soldiers fired tear gas canisters at the journalists at around 12:30 after midnight on Thursday while covering the storming of “Joseph’s Tomb” in the city of Nablus to prevent them from covering the event, despite the journalists being the only ones present at the site.
At around 12:45, the occupation soldiers tried to run over the Al Jazeera crew (correspondent LAITH JAAR and photographer FADI YASSIN) while they were covering the raid, and they were live on air. The driver of the military jeep diverted his course towards them in an attempt to intimidate them and prevent them from covering the incident. The jeep also tried again to run over the journalists, with a difference of only two minutes.
Among the journalists present were: Al Jazeera crew, correspondent LAITH JAAR and photographer FADI YASSIN, freelance journalist YAZAN HAMAYEL, Palestine Post correspondent MUJAHID TABANJA, Quds News Network correspondent ABDULLAH BAHASH, freelance journalist SUDQI RAYYAN, Quds Feed Network correspondent AYOUB YAMAK, and freelance journalist JAMAL RAYYAN.
August 18th. The occupation forces targeted journalists SAMI BARHOUM and HAZEM AL-BAZ with heavy gunfire in Hamad City, north of Khan Younis, on Sunday afternoon while they were documenting the conditions of the displaced people in the city.
According to TRT correspondent SAMI BARHOUM’s statement to MADA, the journalist and his colleague, Russia Today cameraman HAZEM AL-BAZ, were on a work assignment and wearing full press uniforms (shield and helmet), near the Hamad City Towers north of Khan Yunis at around 3:00 PM on Sunday. While documenting the conditions of the displaced, an Israeli sniper directly targeted the journalists’ vehicle with live bullets, shattering the windshield and damaging the vehicle, which clearly bore the press badge. The journalists miraculously escaped the bullets after lying on the ground for more than half an hour.
August 19th. Journalist IBRAHIM MARWAN MUHAREB (26 years old) was martyred, and journalist SALMA AL-QADDOUMI was injured when they were targeted by Israeli tank fire while covering the aggression on the displaced people north of Khan Yunis city at around 7:00 PM on Sunday.
According to the testimony of journalist RASHA AHMED, one of the survivors of the targeting, she and two journalists and photographers who work for a number of news agencies and media outlets, namely: (EZZ EL-DIN AL-MAASHER, SAEED AL-LULU), headed to Asdaa Resort after the military vehicles withdrew from the place, which is an area overlooking Hamad Town and crowded with displaced people, and they were wearing the press badge that indicates their media identity.
While documenting the suffering of the displaced people, a tank suddenly appeared from among the sand dunes and opened heavy fire on the journalists. While they were trying to withdraw from the place, the journalist IBRAHIM fell to the ground and contact with him was lost until the next morning when the citizens found his body, shot in the thigh and back, and he had bled to death because the occupation soldiers had prevented any coordination that would allow ambulances to search for him.
Journalist SALMA AL-QADDOUMI was shot in the back and was transported by donkey cart to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah due to the lack of ambulances.
August 21st. On Wednesday August 21st, 2024, citizens in the Gaza Strip recovered the body of photojournalist MOHAMMED FARAJ ALLAH from under the rubble of a house that was bombed 8 months ago in the northern Gaza Strip.
During the statement of the spokesman for the Civil Defense in the Gaza Strip, MAHMOUD BASAL, he said, “The journalist, MOHAMMED FARAJ ALLAH, was working as a volunteer photographer with the Civil Defense team and went out with one of the rescue teams 8 months ago to document the media coverage of a mission to rescue a family that was bombed, but another missile hit the place, which led to the martyrdom of the photographer, MOHAMMED FARAJ ALLAH, immediately after the rubble fell on him and he remained buried under the rubble for 8 months before citizens were able to retrieve him, and his body arrived at the hospital decomposed.”.
Basal pointed out that the photojournalist MOHAMMED FARAJ ALLAH documented many scenes of bombing and destruction that befell citizens, their homes and their properties, and he had a mark in monitoring the aggression from the first day of the war until his martyrdom.
August 22nd. Journalist HAMZA MURTAJA was killed by Israeli airstrikes while covering the conditions of displaced people at Mustafa Hafez School in Gaza City on Wednesday morning.
According to the testimony of MOATASEM MURTAJA, the journalist’s brother, to a MADA Center researcher, the journalist HAMZA ABDUL RAHMAN MURTAJA (32 years old), who works for the “Media Record” company, was present at around 11:00 AM on Wednesday inside the Mustafa Hafez School in Gaza City to document the lives of the displaced people there for a foreign agency. Ten minutes after he arrived at the school and began conducting interviews, an Israeli warplane bombed the school with a missile, which led to the complete collapse of the western wing where the journalist was located, leading to his death and the death of a number of displaced citizens at the site.
Thus, journalist HAMZA joined his brother, photojournalist YASSER MURTAJA, who was martyred by the occupation forces’ bullets on April 6th, 2018, while covering the March of Return.
August 22nd. Al-Quds TV cameraman HUSSAM AL-DABAKI was killed during a bombing that targeted his home in Al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip at dawn on Thursday.
According to the testimony of journalist HAZEM MAZID to MADA researcher Center, Al-Quds Channel photographer HUSSAM MANAL AL-DABAKI (30 years old) was martyred after Israeli warplanes bombed his house in the middle of the Gaza Strip at around 3:45 AM on Thursday morning. The house was completely destroyed, and photographer AL-DABAKI arrived as a martyr at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah with his wife and a number of his children.
August 22nd. The occupation forces obstructed the work of journalists and media crews and prevented them from covering the storming of Tulkarm refugee camp in the northern West Bank, which lasted for about 15 continuous hours.
According to the statement of the Quds News Network correspondent, journalist MOHAMMED SAMIR ABED (29 years old), to the MADA Center, journalists and media crews were present after midnight on Thursday August 22nd, near the entrance of Tulkarm refugee camp to cover the occupation forces’ storming of the camp, where the journalists continued to be present until Friday afternoon.
At exactly 11:30, while covering the events, the occupation forces obstructed the work of the journalists and prevented them from covering the events, despite their standing in the middle of the street opposite the military vehicles. One of the soldiers got out of the military jeep and shouted at the journalists, asking them to move away from the refugee camp entrance for a distance of no less than 100 meters.
The soldier repeated his shouting after several minutes, saying: “This time I will deal with you verbally, and after that I will deal with you forcefully,” noting that all those present were journalists, but he insisted on preventing them from covering the incident.
Among the journalists present were: Al-Arabiya TV crew, RABIE MUNIR and AMID SHEHADEH, Roya TV crew, HAFEZ ABU SABRA and MAHMOUD FAWZI, Al-Jazeera TV crew, LAITH JAAR and FADI YASSIN, Al-Fajr Al-Jadeed TV crew, and journalists MOHAMMED ATIQ, HAMZA HAMDAN, and HADI SABARNEH.
August 26th. Journalist ALI NAYEF TAAIMA was martyred during a bombing that targeted a civilian car in the "Al-Mawasi" area in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, at 02:57 PM on Monday afternoon, August 26th, 2024.
Journalist AHMED AL-BRIM reported that the cameraman for the Awdah TV channel, ALI NAYEF TAAIMA (39 years old), was sitting inside a café when he wa0s hit by deadly shrapnel in various parts of his body, resulting from a drone missile.
The martyr ALI also worked in the media department of the Fatah Movement Commission and was a member of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. He had many journalistic works, as he was forcibly displaced and under bombardment months ago from Gaza City and settled with his displaced family in the southern Gaza Strip.
August 26th. Journalists MOHAMMED AL-ZAANIN and MOHAMMED KARAJAH were injured when Israeli warplanes bombed the journalists' tents near Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Monday evening.
During the testimony of the correspondent of the "Kanaan" News Agency, journalist KHALED SHAATH, to MADA Center researcher, the photographer of the Turkish TRT channel, Muhammad Al-Za'anin, the assistant photographer of the same channel, MOHAMMED KARAJAH, and the journalist SAMIR AL-BUHAIRI were present near the journalists' tents in the vicinity of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis at around 5:37 PM on Monday to cover the conditions of the displaced people. As they were about to broadcast live when an Israeli drone of the "Quadcopter" type fired an explosive bomb near the tent, which is about 10 meters away from the targeted site, which resulted in the injury of journalist MOHAMMED AL-ZA'ANIN in his left eye, and photographer MOHAMMED KARAJAH was injured in the left elbow by shrapnel resulting from the bombing. They were transferred to the hospital to receive treatment, as AL-ZA'ANIN needs eye surgery, while journalist KHALED SHAATH and journalist SAMIR AL-BUHAIRI escaped a fatal injury.
August 28th. The two brothers, journalist MOHAMMED ABDEL FATTAH ABDEL RABBO (35 years old), who works as the director of the IT department at Al-Manara Media Agency, and his sister, journalist SAMIA (32 years old), who works at the Beit Al-Maqdis Foundation, were martyred when their home in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip was bombed by Israeli warplane on Tuesday evening.
According to their brother OMAR’s statement to MADA Center researcher, at around 11:00 PM on Tuesday, a drone fired a missile at the house where the two brothers live in the middle of the Gaza Strip. This is the house to which they had been displaced from the north of the Gaza Strip since the first days of the war. This led to the destruction of parts of the house and the immediate death of the two journalists, MOHAMMED and SAMIA, after the missile hit them directly. Meanwhile, the third brother, OMAR, was outside the house when it was bombed.
August 28th. The occupation forces fired live ammunition at journalists to prevent them from covering the aggression on the "Nour Shams" refugee camp in Tulkarm, on Wednesday morning, 28/08.
According to the testimony of the Quds News Network correspondent HAMZA HAMDAN (23 years old) to MADA Center, at exactly 10:20 AM on Wednesday, the press crews were present near the main entrance of the Nour Shams refugee camp, and they were the photographer of the French Agency JAAFAR ISHTIA, the crew of Al Jazeera correspondent LAITH JAAR and photographer FADI YASSIN, the correspondent of Al Jazeera MUBASHER HADI SABARNEH, the journalist MOHAMMED AL-YOUNES, the freelance journalist RAGHAD SALAMA, the correspondent of Quds Feed NAGHAM ZAYET, the journalist SAMI AL-LIDAWI, and the correspondent of the Quds News Network HAMZA HAMDAN.
When the occupation soldiers saw them, they fired into the air more than once, indicating that the bullets were very close to them, even passing over their heads, as the Israeli sniper climbed the roof of the building opposite.
August 30th. The Occupation Forces arrested photojournalist RAMEZ AWAD during a raid on the village of Jifna, north of Ramallah, at dawn on Friday, and took him to an unknown location.
On Friday morning, August 30th, the Israeli Occupation Forces arrested freelance photojournalist RAMEZ SAMIR AWAD (31 years old) from the village of Jifna, north of the city of Ramallah.
According to the testimony of the cousin of journalist AMJAD AWAD, a large force of occupation soldiers stormed the home of the family of freelance photographer RAMEZ SAMIR AWAD (31 years old) in the village of "Jifna" north of the city of Ramallah, confiscated his mobile phone, arrested him after checking his ID card, and took him to an unknown location. The family does not know where he is being held or what charges are against him.
August 30th. The occupation forces targeted the press crews with live ammunition in the vicinity of "Asfour Roundabout" on Nablus Street in the southern region of Jenin, during its ongoing military operation in Jenin.
Quds News Network correspondent, journalist MOHAMMED SAMIR ABED (29 years old), reported to the field researcher of MADA Center that at 10:30 AM on Friday, August 30th, the press crews headed to cover the occupation forces’ storming of the city of Jenin and the violations against the citizens there. When they arrived at 10:45 AM, a bullet was fired in the opposite street after the occupation forces saw the journalists’ vehicles, which were the Al-Arabiya TV crew, correspondent AMID SHEHADEH and photographer RABIE MUNIR, the Al-Ghad TV crew, KHALED BADIR and SHADI JARARA’A, freelance journalist AMR MANASRAH, Quds Feed correspondent JARRAH KHALAF, journalist MOHAMMED ATIQ, Quds News Network correspondent MOHAMMED ABED, Reuters photographer RANEEN SAWAFTA, in addition to the Al-Arabiya TV crew, correspondent THARWAT SHAKRA and photographer WISSAM ABD RABBO.
At around 11:00 AM, the journalists got out of their cars and drove all at once to the street opposite the army so that they could see them and make sure that they were journalists. However, the occupation army expelled them from the area and shouted at them, asking them to move away. Moments later, they opened fire at the journalists in an attempt to terrorize them.
Journalists and media crews left the area towards Hospital Street near Al Amal Hospital opposite the military vehicle located there.
August 31st. The occupation forces detained the journalists AMER AL-SHALUDI and the freelance journalist ASHWAQ MOHAMMED AWAD (23 years old) on Saturday evening near the checkpoint erected near the Ibrahimi Mosque square in the city of Hebron for about 10 minutes. They released the journalist AL-SHALUDI, while they arrested the journalist ASHWAQ and took her to a police station near the place.
According to the testimony of the father of journalist MOHAMMED AWAD to MADA Center researcher, journalist ASHWAQ was present with freelance journalist AMER AL-SHALUDI in the old city of Hebron at around 4:00 PM on Saturday, covering the events in the city following the occurrence of shootings.
During the coverage, the Border Police forces stopped the two journalists near the military checkpoint near the Ibrahimi Mosque square, known as the “Mafia Checkpoint,” and asked to check their ID cards. After about 10 minutes, the soldiers asked the journalist AL-SHALUDI to leave the area, while the force members informed the journalist AWAD that she was under arrest and was transferred to the occupation police station near the Ibrahimi Mosque for investigation.
In the early hours of Sunday, September 1, the journalist was transferred to the Beitar Illit police investigation center, and then to the Russian Compound (Moskobiyya) investigation center. The lawyer informed the family that a trial session had been set for Wednesday, September 4th.
