On August 31, 2024, Israeli security forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Ashwaq Muhammad Ayad, a reporter and photographer for the Jenin-based Al-Dafa TV, at a checkpoint in the old city of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, according to the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency WAFA, the Beirut-based regional press freedom group SKeyes, and Palestinian freelance photographer Amer al-Shaloudi, who was with her at the time and spoke to CPJ via messaging app.
Al-Shaloudi, who was detained with Ayad near Ibrahimi Mosque for two hours and subsequently released, told CPJ that Ayad was initially held at Jerusalem’s Moscovia Detention Center for writing critically about Israel on social media. She has since been transferred to Damon prison, in northern Israel, according to her father, Mohammed Ayad.
Ayad’s father told CPJ via messaging app that Ayad had been charged with incitement on social media for posts published between October 7, 2023, and May 2024 and for “supporting a hostile organization.” He said that her hearings were postponed multiple times.
Israeli authorities released Ayad on January 19, 2025, after nearly five months in detention.
Upon her release, Ayad told CPJ that she lost 15 kilograms (33 pounds) in prison because the very small quantities of food provided by prison authorities. She said she had various medical issues, and had scheduled a surgery, but was detained before the appointment. While in prison, she said, she vomited blood.
Ayad said she was not subjected to violent physical abuse such as beatings or stress positions, but alleged that Israeli auth tried to harm her psychologically. She said she was strip-searched every day and that officers mocked her by showing her a video filmed at the moment of her arrest near the Ibrahimi Mosque and laughing at it. She added that while she was held at the Moscovia detention center, officers would inform her whenever Palestinians were killed and laugh sarcastically.
She added that she left journalism because of Israeli threats and her father’s fears for her safety.
Ayad’s testimony was included 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 prisons..
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 and sexual abuse, 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 “prisoners and detainees have the right to file a complaint that will be fully examined and addressed by official authorities.”