Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory / Middle East & North Africa

See CPJ’s data on journalists and media workers killed the Israel Gaza war here.

  
Soldiers lock a gate from the inside at Sde Teiman detention facility, after Israeli military police arrived at the site as part of an investigation into the suspected abuse of a Palestinian detainee.

Israeli journalist faces threats after reporting alleged sexual abuse of prisoner

Washington, DC, November 17, 2025 – The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores the escalating threats and harassment against Channel 12 Israeli journalist Guy Peleg in apparent retaliation for his reporting on the alleged abuse of a prisoner at an Israeli detention facility. Following his August 2024 exposé, which aired a leaked video allegedly showing Israeli…

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Reuters journalist Raneen Sawafta receives medical care following an Israeli settler9 attack near Nablus on November 8, 2025.

Surging Israeli settler violence hurts West Bank journalists

With settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank spiking, journalists are also facing more frequent and severe attacks.  So far in 2025, the Committee to Protect Journalists has documented 11 attack incidents involving at least 23 Palestinian and international journalists by Israeli settlers — some alongside soldiers — compared with one attack on…

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The Dome of the Rock is seen behind Israeli security forces after clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians at al-Aqsa Mosque over visits by Jews to the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City in 2021.

Palestinian journalists targeted with Ramadan bans, arrests at Al-Aqsa holy site

Nazareth, November 4, 2025—Israeli police banned at least 10 Palestinian journalists from Jerusalem’s disputed Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during Ramadan this year, CPJ has found, in what many view as a deliberate effort to censor coverage of the holy site. Intimidatory tactics against the press have increased in the two years since the start of the…

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CPJ calls for transparent US investigation into killing of Shireen Abu Akleh

New York, October 28, 2025 — The Committee to Protect Journalists renewed its call for an independent and transparent investigation into Israel’s killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, after a news report suggested the United States watered down its conclusions in an assessment of the circumstances surrounding her death. Abu Akleh, one of the…

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The Israeli Supreme Court granted Israel another 30-days to respond to a petition challenging the two-year ban on entry.

CPJ calls on international community to urge Israel to end Gaza media ban after Supreme Court delay

New York, October 23, 2025 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls on the international community to pressure Israel to immediately lift all restrictions preventing journalists from entering Gaza, after the Supreme Court today granted the state an additional 30 days to respond to a petition challenging the two-year ban on entry.  Israel’s request…

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A Palestinian man makes his way past destroyed buildings in Gaza City on October 12, 2025 during a ceasefire.

Ceasefire brings some calm but not safety for journalists in Gaza, West Bank

Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, October 21, 2025 — As a fragile ceasefire pushes through a second week, Palestinian journalists in the West Bank and Gaza still face immense risks. Despite a pause in large-scale fighting, attacks, detention and threats to press freedom persist. While seven journalists were released as part of the ceasefire that began on October…

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The mound of rubble at the site of the Unknown Soldier Tower, destroyed by overnight Israeli bombardment, is pictured in the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City on September 15, 2025.

CPJ demands immediate end to Gaza media access ban, files legal challenge

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is renewing its urgent call for Israel to provide immediate, independent, and unrestricted international media access to Gaza. On October 5, 2025, CPJ took a decisive stand for press freedom by filing an amicus brief in support of the Foreign Press Association in Israel’s second petition to the Israeli…

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Prominent Palestinian journalist Saleh Aljafarawi, who had a large social media following, was killed by an armed group in Gaza City on October 12, 2025.

Palestinian journalist Saleh Aljafarawi killed by armed group in Gaza City

Sulaymaniyah, October 16, 2025 — The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the killing of Saleh Aljafarawi, a 28-year-old freelance Palestinian journalist who gained prominence on social media for his war coverage. He was shot and killed on October 12, 2025, reportedly by members of an armed Palestinian group in Gaza City, just days…

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This photo shows a boat from the Global Sumud Flotilla, one of the earlier aid convoys intercepted by Israeli forces in the Mediterranean sea off the Gaza Strip waters, being escorted towards the southern port of Ashdod on October 2, 2025.

Israel frees 14 journalists detained from Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla

Sulaymaniyah, October 14, 2025 —  Israeli authorities have released 14 journalists and others who had been detained, many of them for four days, after sailing aboard the Wijdan (Conscience), a vessel that was part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), one of several aid convoys that have attempted to break the blockade on Gaza.  The…

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Boats with the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza are seen moored at the small island of Koufonisi, south of the island of Crete, on September 26, 2025.

CPJ calls on Israel to release journalists detained on the Global Sumud Flotilla

New York, October 2, 2025 – The Committee to Protect Journalists demands Israeli authorities immediately and unconditionally release the humanitarian crew of the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla, which includes at least 32 journalists, after the vessels were seized on October 1 and 2. “Detaining members of the press while reporting on a humanitarian mission is…

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