🔴 Israeli Occupation Escalates Arbitrary Imprisonment of Palestinian Journalists, Without Trial or Charge

Ramallah, occupied Palestine – Israeli occupation authorities are increasing their use of “administrative detention” or detention without trial or charge, against Palestinian journalists in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said today.

The number of journalists held under this order, under a “secret file,” has risen to 23 people, following the transfer of journalist Mujahid Bani Mifleh from Nablus to “administrative detention” for four months. 

The 23 people are among 54 journalists currently held by the occupation, including 50 journalists who were arrested and detained following the start of the genocide in Gaza in October 2023.

The PPS noted that in addition to transferring journalist Mujahid Bani Mifleh to “administrative detention,” the occupation also renewed the detention of journalist Samer Khuwaira from Nablus for three more months under the same order. This is the second administrative order issued against Khuwaira since his arrest on April 10, 2025.

The PPS pointed out that the total number of journalists who have been detained or arrested since the start of the genocide in Gaza has reached 193 people, the most recent of whom is journalist Nasser Al-Laham from Bethlehem. Among the 193, 54 journalists remain behind bars. 

The PPS reaffirmed that the occupation seeks, through the arrest of journalists, to silence their voices in the face of the enormous crimes it is committing, to target the Palestinian narrative, and to impose further control and censorship over their work. Once again we highlight the case of journalist Nidal Abu Aker from Bethlehem, one of the longest-held administrative detainees, who has been imprisoned by the occupation since August 1, 2022. He previously spent around 20 years in Israeli prisons, most of it under administrative detention.

The PPS stressed that arresting journalists is not the only policy the occupation uses to silence them and deprive them of their right to freedom of expression. It also continues to target them through systematic assassinations as part of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Furthermore, many journalists continue to be detained on accusations of so-called “incitement” via social media and media outlets—essentially another form of administrative detention, as most of those detained for “incitement” were later placed under administrative detention due to the occupation’s failure to file formal indictments.

Journalists detained in the occupation’s prisons and military camps face all the violations suffered by Palestinian prisoners in general, including systematic torture, severe beatings, starvation, medical neglect, and ongoing humiliation and abuse, in addition to the deprivation and harsh, degrading detention conditions.

It is worth noting that the number of “administrative detainees” in Israeli prisons without trial or charge has now reached the highest level in history, with 3,629 Palestinians held under this order as of early July 2025—a figure that exceeds the number of convicted and pre-trial detainees, as well as those labeled by the occupation as “unlawful combatants,” also without trial or charge.