Palestinian freelance journalist Hamza al-Safi, who contributes to the Quds News Network and the news website Al-Jarmaq News, among others, is currently being held in Al-Jalama detention center and no indictment had been issued against him, according to the Palestinian Commission of Detainee Affairs and a source close to al-Safi, who spoke to CPJ via phone and messaging app on April 9 and who requested anonymity due to fear of reprisal.
On February 9, 2024, Israeli security forces stormed into al-Safi’s house in the West Bank city of Tulkarem and arrested him, according to news reports, the Beirut-based press freedom organization SKeyes, and the source.
The source told CPJ that Israeli soldiers broke into the house after midnight, searched it, and seized al-Safi´s photography equipment, two computers, several electronic devices and five cell phones.
The source told CPJ that al-Safi works as a freelancer contributing footage and other services to programs that air on several local news agencies and TV stations, including the Quds News Network, the news website Al-Jarmaq News, and the TV station Al-Madina. He contributed footage to the Quds News Network’s Al-Masar Program on Tulkarem.
The source told CPJ in October that al-Safi was currently being held in Megiddo prison in northern Israel and that his court hearings were repeatedly postponed. CPJ was unable to determine the status of his health in custody.
Al-Safi was arrested in the course of Israel’s recent military operations in the region, which began after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. Israel has killed scores of journalists in Gaza as well as six in Lebanon, jailed dozens of Palestinian journalists from the West Bank and Gaza, and destroyed much of the press infrastructure in Gaza, all while preventing the foreign press from entering Gaza.
In response to an email requesting comment from CPJ, the Israel Defense Forces said it was not aware of al-Safi’s case. CPJ also emailed Israel’s Security Agency, known as Shin Bet, and the Israeli Prison Service in late 2024 for comment on the cases of imprisoned Palestinian journalists but received no response.