Israel Detained 42 Palestinian Journalists in 2025

Israel detained at least 42 Palestinian journalists in 2025, including eight women, continuing what the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) described as a systematic campaign against Palestinian media workers.

In a report released by its Freedoms Committee, the syndicate said the arrests took place throughout the occupied West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem, and areas inside the occupied territories. Journalists were detained at military checkpoints, border crossings, during field reporting, and in night raids on their homes.

According to the report, the overall number of arrests declined compared to 2023 and 2024, but this reduction reflected a strategic shift rather than an easing of pressure. The committee said Israel has moved from widespread arrests to what it called “qualitative targeting,” focusing on influential journalists, repeatedly detaining the same individuals, expanding the use of administrative detention without charge or trial, and employing physical and psychological abuse as a deterrent.

The syndicate also documented multiple cases in which journalists were arrested while actively covering military operations or attacks by Israeli settlers. Such practices, the report said, indicate that detention is being used to remove witnesses from the field and obstruct the flow of information.

The report highlighted a significant rise in the targeting of Palestinian women journalists in 2025. Women reporters were subjected to arrests, interrogations, expulsions, and in some cases repeated detention.

The committee noted that these abuses overlap with testimonies from foreign women journalists who reported mistreatment and torture while held in Israeli prisons. It said the nature of these violations may place them within the scope of serious international crimes.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate urged the international community, human rights groups, the United Nations, and special rapporteurs on freedom of expression to take immediate action. It called for accountability for Israeli officials and an end to violations against Palestinian journalists.

In its conclusion, the Freedoms Committee stressed that Palestinian journalists would continue carrying out their professional and national duties despite repression, arrests, and intimidation, adding that targeting media workers would not succeed in silencing the truth or concealing violations.