RAMALLAH, (PIC)
Human rights and media calls are escalating for the release of Palestinian journalists detained in Israeli occupation prisons, coinciding with the commemoration of Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, in light of warnings of the expanding policy of targeting media professionals since the war of genocide in October 2023, and the accompanying arrest campaigns and escalating violations.
In this context, the Palestinian Journalist Block demanded the immediate release of 45 journalists who remain detained in the Israeli prisons, confirming that targeting and arresting journalists constitutes a “systematic crime” aimed at silencing the truth and breaking the will of the free word.
It pointed out in a statement on Thursday, that the Israeli occupation forces arrested more than 220 journalists since October 2023, in an attempt to extinguish the Palestinian narrative and prevent the transmission of field facts.
The Block added that the continued detention of journalists represents a direct assault on press freedom and the right of peoples to knowledge, and reflects a deliberate policy to target media professionals as witnesses to events. It called on the international community, human rights institutions, and journalistic unions to take urgent action to pressure for their release, and to stop the repeated violations against them, confirming that “the free word cannot be restricted.”
In a separate statement, the Palestinian Media Forum confirmed that Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, which Palestinians commemorate on April 17 of each year, comes this year in light of an unprecedented escalation of violations against prisoners, headed by journalists. The Forum explained that about 49 journalists remain under arrest since the beginning of the war, within an escalating arrest policy that has affected hundreds of media professionals.
The Forum pointed out that detained journalists are subjected to grave violations inside prisons, including torture, ill treatment, and deprivation of basic rights, including medical care and legal representation, within the framework of what it described as attempts to break their will and silence their voice.
It noted that the number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons exceeded 9,600 prisoners until the beginning of April 2026, living in harsh humanitarian conditions, considering that arbitrary detention, including administrative detention without charge, constitutes a flagrant violation of freedom of opinion and expression and an attempt to obscure the truth.
The Forum called for the immediate release of all detained journalists without condition or restriction, demanding that the United Nations and international institutions bear their legal and humanitarian responsibilities, and open independent investigations into the violations committed against them, confirming that targeting journalists will not succeed in absenting the truth or breaking the will of the Palestinian media.
Palestinians commemorate the Prisoners’ Day annually on April 17 to remind of the cause of thousands of detainees in Israeli prisons, amid escalating human rights criticisms of arrest policies, especially against journalists, who are viewed as one of the most prominent groups targeted in the context of the conflict, given their role in documenting violations and conveying them to international public opinion.