On July 25, 2024, Israeli forces raided the house of Palestinian journalist Hazem Nasser, a 34-year-old camera operator for An-Najah TV, which is affiliated with An-Najah National University in the northern West Bank, and arrested him, according to multiple news reports.
The soldiers surrounded the house in the town of Tulkarem at about 4 a.m., broke down the doors, handcuffed and blindfolded Nasser in his bedroom, and took him to an unknown location, the journalist’s parents told those sources. Nasser’s mother said they also raided and searched the journalist’s brother’s house. Charges against Nasser have not been disclosed.
Nasser’s mother added that Nasser was summoned and questioned in June by an Israeli intelligence officer in Tulkarem who threatened the journalist by saying, “This is your last warning or you will be arrested.” Nasser responded that he was only doing his journalistic work, she said.
Nasser is married with two young children, his parents said.
On September 2, Nasser was placed in administrative detention for five months, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club and his lawyer, Fadi Qawasmeh, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. Qawasmeh said that Nasser was being held at Al-Jalame detention center, nine miles southeast of the Israeli city Haifa; his father, Emad Nasser, told CPJ that he has since moved to Megiddo prison in northern Israel.
Qawasmeh told CPJ that Nasser is facing incitement accusations and that the military had ordered him into administrative detention for another six months. CPJ could not immediately determine when the latest administrative detention order was given.
Qawasmeh 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. CPJ was unable to determine if he is facing health issues in custody.
CPJ previously documented that Nasser was arrested in 2021 and 2016 by Israeli forces and in 2018 by Palestinian forces.
In June 2023, Nasser was shot by Israeli forces in a raid on Jenin refugee camp, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and The Associated Press news agency, which said that an AP journalist saw the military shoot directly at Nasser who was wearing a clearly marked “Press” vest. Nasser, who was then working as a camera operator for Jordan’s Al-Ghad TV, was hospitalized with serious injuries, CPJ reported at the time.
CPJ emailed the Israel Defense Forces, Israel’s Security Agency, also known as the Shin Bet, and the Israeli Prison Service in late 2024 for comment on the cases of imprisoned Palestinian journalists but received no response.