On August 6, 2025, Israeli forces arrested 24-year-old Palestinian journalist Farah Abu Ayash from her home in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron in the West Bank, in the early hours of the morning, according to her family and multiple news reports.
Her father, Mohammed Abu Ayash, told CPJ that Israeli forces had raided the house, searching and ransacking it, before detaining his daughter, who works for Iran’s Tasnim News Agency. He said the raid was part of a broader campaign that included searches of several homes in the al-Dhahr neighborhood and on Sheikhah Fatima Street in Beit Ummar.
Abu Ayash’s lawyer, Ihab al-Ghalayidh from the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, told CPJ that her detention has been extended twice so far, and a court hearing is scheduled for August 24. He said Israeli police have accused her of having “contact with a foreign agent,” without elaborating.
Farah was previously arrested on January 21, 2025.