On October 25, 2023, Israeli military forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Radwan Qatanani, who covers issues related to Israel’s military occupation for several Palestinian news websites, including Etar, Arabi 21, Hadarat, and the Quds News Network.
Israeli military forces searched Qatanani’s home in the Askar refugee camp, on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Nablus, in the early morning. When they failed to find the journalist there, they called him and asked him to come home. Qatanani returned to the house and was arrested, Qatanani’s brother, Ali Qatanani, told Palestinian press freedom group MADA. Beirut-based regional press freedom organization SKeyes and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate also reported on the arrest.
According to the official Commission of Detainees Affairs posts on Facebook, an administrative detention order was issued against Qatanani on November 8. Under administrative detention procedures, authorities may hold detainees for six months without charge if they suspect the detainee of planning to commit a future offense, and then extend the detention an unlimited number of times, according to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. Judges may accept evidence against the detainee without disclosing it on security grounds. The detention has been repeatedly renewed.
Ali Qatanani told CPJ via messaging app in October 2024 that Israeli forces are holding Radwan in Ramon prison in southern Israel; initially, he was held in Meggido prison in northern Israel. CPJ was unable to determine the status of his health in custody.
Qatanani 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.
Qatanani has been arrested by Israeli forces in the past. On July 18 2017, he was arrested in the Askar Refugee Camp, according to Arabi 21, his employer at the time and SKeyes. He spent 20 months in administrative detention and was released in February 2019, according to news reports.
CPJ emailed the IDF, Israel’s Security Agency, also 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.