Palestinian freelance journalist Abdul Mohsen Shalaldeh, 33, was arrested on November 7, 2023, at his home in the town of Sa'ir in Hebron, southern West Bank. He previously collaborated with Al Jazeera Mubasher and West Bank-based J-Media agency, which the Israeli army orderedto shut.
Shalaldeh was held in several facilities, beginning in the West Bank’s Etzion detention center and later Ofer Prison. He told CPJ that Israeli soldiers beat him, stabbed his scalp with pens, and extinguished cigarettes on his head. He said he could not move for days due to what he believes were fractured bones in several parts of his body, but he received no medical treatment.
Shalaldeh said that he discovered in an appeal hearing, after five months’ detention, that he had been placed under administrative detention, and was accused of filming the Israeli army, which he did as part of his journalistic work.
Israel’s practice of administrative detention allows a military commander to detain an individual without charge, typically for six months, on the grounds of preventing them from committing a future offense. Administrative detention can be extended an unlimited number of times.
Before his release, Israeli prison officials threatened Shalaldeh with re-arrest, he told CPJ.
He reported losing 19 kilograms due to what he described as Israeli “starvation policies” inside prisons, dropping to a weight of 50 kilograms.
On May 6, 2024, Israeli authorities released Shalaldeh, after detaining him for six months.
Shalaldeh told CPJ after his release that he had been traumatized by his experience in detention and now only works intermittently.
Shaladeh’s testimony was including in the CPJ special report, “We returned from hell,” published in February 2026, which compiles accounts from 58 journalists who reported patterns of abuse, torture and mistreatment against Palestinian journalists inside Israeli prisoners.
Shalaldeh was previously arrested by Israeli security forces in February and June 2018, 2019, and 2020 and in January 2023.
The Israeli military did not respond to CPJ’s repeated requests for comment on specific allegations by journalists, instead requesting ID numbers and geographic coordinates that CPJ does not collect or provide. When asked about allegations of physical, sexual abuse and starvation, and the investigation and accountability process, an army spokesperson said “individuals detained are treated in accordance with international law,” adding that the armed forces “have never, and will never, deliberately target journalists,” and that any violations of protocol “will be looked into.”
CPJ also emailed the Israel Prison Service (IPS) regarding the allegations. In response, the IPS said “all prisoners are detained according to the law” and that “all basic rights are fully upheld by professionally trained prison guards.” The service said it was unaware of the claims described, and that to its knowledge “no such events have occurred,” but noted that the “prisoners and detainees have the right to file a complaint that will be fully examined and addressed by official authorities.”