On October 9, 2024, at 3:00 a.m., Israeli forces raided the house of Maher Haroun, a freelance journalist and media student at Al Quds Open University, in al-Am’ari Refugee Camp, a Palestinian refugee camp in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, and arrested him, according to local media reports.
As a freelance photographer and camera operator, Haroun has contributed footage of protests to some local media outlets, including the broadcasters Palestine TV and AnNajah TV.
Haroun was being held at the Hawara detention center in the northern West Bank, according to family members who spoke to CPJ.
The family members said that Israeli soldiers put all other family members in one room of the house, arrested Haroun, and assaulted him outside of his house.
CPJ was unable to determine the status of his health in custody.
Haroun 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.
On March 19, 2024, Palestinian General Intelligence agents arrested Haroun while he was covering a pro-Gaza march in the West Bank city of Ramallah and held him for questioning for three days, according to news reports, the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, and Haroun, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app on May 15.
During his detention, Haroun was repeatedly questioned about his work as a journalist and his filming of the protests, and was verbally and physically abused, according to MADA. No charges were filed against him and no hearing was held on his case, the same sources said. He was released on March 22.
CPJ emailed the North America Desk of the Israel Defense Forces requesting information on the charges against the journalist, reason for his arrest, and health conditions in prison. The IDF referred CPJ to Israel’s security agency, Shin Bet, which did not respond to CPJ’s subsequent emails.