RAMALLAH, October 6, 2026 (WAFA) – The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate has condemned the escalating targeting of journalists by Israeli occupation forces and colonist militias across the northern West Bank, describing it as a dangerous new chapter in the occupation’s systematic policy against journalists and media outlets.

In an official statement, the Syndicate reported that field reports documented colonist militias brutally assaulting Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer Jaafar Ashtiyeh near the town of Aqraba, southeast of Nablus. Ashtiyeh sustained severe injuries that required his urgent transfer to the hospital in serious condition. The colonists also smashed and confiscated his professional journalistic equipment while he was covering colonist attacks on olive harvesters on the town’s lands.

The statement further noted that Israeli occupation forces detained journalists Mohammad Atiq and Mohammad Abed while they were covering preparations by the occupation forces to uproot olive trees on lands belonging to the town of Anza, south of Jenin. The forces took both journalists, along with a group of olive harvesters, to an unknown location.

Expressing deep concern over the escalation of these attacks, the Syndicate renewed its urgent call to international bodies responsible for upholding journalists’ rights and media freedom to condemn the occupation’s measures and provide journalists with immediate field protection.

T.R.