On December 12, 2023, Israeli military forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Ikhlas Sawalha at the Deir Sharaf checkpoint, west of the West Bank city of Nablus, after searching her car, and took her to Damon Prison near the northern Israeli city of Haifa, according to news reports.
Several charges were brought against Sawalha related to her journalism and a hearing was set for December 19, 2023, the Palestinian press freedom group MADA reported.
On December 21, 2023, Ofer military court placed Sawalha in administrative detention for six months, according to the Commission of Detainees Affairs, which supports Palestinian prisoners, MADA, and the journalist’s sister, who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisals.
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.
Sawalha was blindfolded upon arrest, strip searched, and female soldiers kicked her and beat her with their hands, she told CPJ after her release, on May 12, 2025. Sawalha said she was denied access to her lawyer and attended closed military court sessions where she was not informed of the evidence against her.
On February 8, Sawalha’s lawyer, Hassan Abbadi, described on Facebook his visit to the journalist in Damon Prison where he said conditions were poor, with overcrowded cells, water leaking from the ceiling, bad food, and bed bugs.
Sawalha was released on August 9, 2024, Sawalha’s sister told CPJ via messaging app on October 2, 2024. Sawalha told CPJ that she lost 2 kilograms during detention.
According to CPJ’s review of Sawalha’s Facebook account, she is a media graduate from the West Bank’s University of Birzeit. Sawalha runs a YouTube channel, with hundreds of subscribers, where she has posted reports on events calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners and an interview she did for the Quds Feed Network, a Palestinian media network. Sawalha’s sister Walla told CPJ that Sawalha also worked with a local charity, teaching journalism to students.
CPJ routinely contacts the Israel Defense Forces' North America Media Desk about its arrests of journalists. In one 2024 response, the IDF said it detains ‘individuals suspected of involvement in terrorist activity,' but has either provided no evidence or unsubstantiated evidence to CPJ to support these suspicions. CPJ has also contacted the Israeli Prison Service, the Palestinian General Intelligence Service, and Shin Bet about Palestinian journalists arrested in the West Bank but received no replies.