On March 18, 2024, Israeli security forces arrested Walid Zayed, a reporter and editor for the Qatari-funded broadcaster Al Jazeera Mubasher, at his West Bank home in Ramallah’s Al-Masayef neighborhood, searched and vandalized the house, seized his computer, his personal cell phone, SIM cards, and journalism equipment, without giving a reason for his arrest, according to news reports and the Beirut-based regional press freedom group SKeyes.
Legal documents reviewed by CPJ show that Zayed is facing incitement charges in Israeli military court over a tweet he posted on his X account on October 7, 2023, which includes a video by Al Jazeera showing Palestinians standing on top of a military vehicle and dragging Israeli soldiers to the ground.
Zayed’s detention has been extended multiple times. Zayed’s father, Khaled Zayed, told CPJ via messaging app that Zayed’s mother had been able to visit her son in Ofer Prison, in the West Bank, and that he had lost considerable weight but was in good health.
Zyoud was arrested in the course of the Israel’s 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.
CPJ emailed the Israel Defense Forces, 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.