On December 8, 2023, Israeli forces arrested Palestinian journalist Ahmed Shaqoura, head of digital media in Gaza of the Beirut-based pro-Islamic Jihad Palestine Today TV, at home in western Gaza City.
“It was their policy to subject detainees to all forms of torture from the first moment of the arrest,” the 38-year-old told CPJ in March 2025. “They broke my ribs. They also used plastic cuffs to tie my hands, causing them to bleed heavily.”
Shaqoura said he witnessed abuse at every location where he was detained, starting at the initial investigation checkpoint and throughout his imprisonment.
“I was subjected to severe torture that resulted in the rupture of my leg muscles, which lasted for two months,” he said, describing the 140 days he spent in northern Israel’s Al-Jalame Prison.
Shaqoura told CPJ he suffered extreme food deprivation, causing dramatic weight loss, from 126 to 72 kilograms. His final period of detention was in Ktzi’ot Prison in Israel’s southern Negev desert.
Israeli authorities released Shaqoura on February 15, 2025, as part of a prisoner–hostage exchange with Hamas.
CPJ routinely contacts the Israel Defense Forces' North America Media Desk about its arrests of journalists. In one 2024 response the IDF said it detains ‘individuals suspected of involvement in terrorist activity,' but has either provided no evidence or unsubstantiated evidence to CPJ to support these suspicions. CPJ has also contacted the Israeli Prison Service, the Palestinian General Intelligence Service, and Shin Bet about Palestinian journalists arrested in the West Bank but did not receive any replies.