Hamad, a soundman with the Gaza-based Ramattan news agency, was arrested during a 4 a.m. raid by Israel Defense Forces at his home in the Kalandia refugee camp, near Ramallah in the West Bank, according to relatives and station staff.
According to Rami Hussein, Hamad’s cousin and a fellow Ramattan journalist, Israeli authorities were holding Hamad in “administrative detention,” which allowed authorities to jail him for up to six months without charge. The Israeli embassy in Washington had no comment about the detention when contacted by CPJ. Hussein said the journalist had been transferred to the Israeli-run Ofer Prison in the West Bank.