Ramallah- 9th April 2013: the Israeli Occupation Forces continued its targeting of Palestinian Journalists; last direct attack was on the Palestinian News Network )PNN( cameraman Mohammad Waleed Alaza (23 years old) during his coverage of the clashes between the Occupation Forces and Palestinian young men at the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, yesterday 8th April 2013.

Alaza reported to the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) that he was filming the clashes from the Lajea Institution balcony at the Aida Refugee camp, that’s when he was approached by a soldier who ordered him to stop filming. Alaza added: “I stopped filming and headed inside the premises, yet a soldier fired a rubber bullet directly at me from a distance not exceeding 10 miters, which hit my face beneath my eye”. 

Alaza is still lying in Beit Jala Arab care hospital, suffering from pain in the face, where he underwent an operation to remove the bullet, and will undergo another operation this evening to complete the treatment of the tissue and bone under his eye.

MADA condemns the crime of assault on Alaza, and reiterates its call for the international community to put pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities to stop the violations of media freedoms in Palestine, and to hold perpetrators on journalists accountable.