RAMALLAH, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said on Monday it had documented a rise in Israeli violations against journalists during the first half of 2026, recording 467 violations that included killings, injuries, arrests, obstruction of coverage and attacks on media crews.
At a press conference in Ramallah, the syndicate said its freedoms committee had documented 467 violations by Israeli occupation forces and settlers against Palestinian journalists and media workers since the beginning of the year.
The violations included obstruction of coverage, arrests, physical attacks, live fire, tear gas canisters and judicial measures against journalists.
Cases of obstructing coverage and detaining media crews accounted for 192 violations, representing more than 41% of the total documented cases.
The data showed that February recorded the highest number of violations, with 122 cases, followed by January with 109 and June with 89. March saw 53 violations, April 39 and May 55.
Mohammed Al-Lahham, head of the syndicate’s freedoms committee, said the report documented the reality of journalistic work amid crimes committed against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
He said eight journalists were martyred during the first six months of the year, bringing the total number of journalists killed since October 7, 2023, to 264.
The report recorded 27 arrests, 29 cases of direct gunfire and 78 incidents involving tear gas and sound bombs. It said live fire was used against media crews 257 times, while tear gas and sound bombs were fired 393 times. Nineteen journalists were also banned from the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The syndicate documented two live-fire injuries in May, 14 physical assaults, dozens of gas inhalation cases, 16 armed threats and six settler attacks.
It also recorded 22 cases involving the destruction or confiscation of journalistic equipment, seven raids on journalists’ homes and media institutions, three closures of media institutions, five website bans and 192 cases of obstruction of coverage.
The syndicate said the total number of violations documented against journalists from October 7, 2023, through the end of June 2026 had reached 4,127.
These violations included the killing of 264 journalists, the injury of 226, the arrest of 193, the destruction of 187 media institutions and 140 journalists’ homes, and the killing of 713 members of journalists’ families.
The syndicate said the figures show that journalists are being targeted as part of a systematic assault on press freedom and the right to information. It called on the international community and press unions to provide protection for Palestinian journalists.
Nasser Abu Baker, head of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, said the report documented all crimes committed against journalists in the Palestinian territories, particularly in the Gaza Strip.
He said the syndicate presented the violations at a conference held at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva under the sponsorship of the International Federation of Journalists, with the participation of special rapporteurs and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Abu Baker added that the National Union of Journalists in France had informed the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate of its intention to file a case before France’s highest court, alongside another union effort through the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions regarding Israeli war crimes committed against journalists.
He said the syndicate continues to follow up on these files with international bodies, foremost among them the International Criminal Court, and called for accelerating investigations and announcing measures against those responsible for crimes committed against Palestinian journalists.
