By Tareq Astal
RAMALLAM, Wednesday, May 08, 2019 (WAFA) - The Palestinian News and Information Agency, WAFA, recorded 13 violations by the Israeli occupation forces against journalists in the Palestinian territories during April.
In its monthly report on Israeli violations against journalists published today, WAFA said 11 journalists were injured from rubber-coated metal bullets, live bullets and tear gas canisters fired by Israeli soldiers as well as from severe beatings. At the same time, one journalist was detained and another had his press papers seized.
On April 3, the Jerusalem District Court rejected an appeal filed by Mustafa Kharouf, a photographer with the Turkish Anadolu news agency, to release him from prison so that he can be with his family in Jerusalem and kept him incarcerated until May 5, when he is supposed to be expelled to Jordan. (Kharouf’s attorney got an injunction from the Israeli High Court on May 5 stopping his expulsion until it hears his plea demanding his release and reunification with his family in Jerusalem.)
On April 5, Israeli forces shot Amad news agency correspondent Safinaz al-Louh with a teargas grenade in her right foot, and Noor news photographer Mohammad Issa with a gas bomb in his leg while covering the events of March of Return protests east of the Gaza Strip.
On 10 April, Israeli forces raided the home of Ra‘ed al-Sharif in Hebron, held his family in one room before embarking on thorough search of the house while tampering with its contents.
On April 12, Israeli forces hit Filistin al-Hadath photographer and correspondent, Ahmed al-Zurei, with a rubber bullet in the abdomen while covering the protests east of al-Bureij in the central Gaza Strip.
On April 19, freelance photographer Abdel Rahim al-Khatib was hit by a rubber bullet in the left thigh and Reuters photographer Bassam Massoud with a gas grenade behind his left ear. A similar bomb hit Watan radio reporter Mohammad al-Louh in his foot, and freelance photographers Mahmoud Badr in his left foot and Ahmad Washah in the head while covering the protests east of the Gaza Strip.
In the same day, Xinhua photographer, Nidal Shtayeh, and WAFA photographer, Ayman Noubani, were shot with rubber-coated metal bullets in the thigh while covering the Israeli army crackdown on the weekly protests in Kufr Qaddoum village, east of Qalqilya in the north of the West Bank.
On April 26, Israeli forces targeted Shihab news agency photographer, Ramadan al-Sharif, with a live bullet that hit him in his right foot while covering the protests east of Rafah in southern Gaza.
WAFA said the daily Israeli attacks against journalists in the West Bank are part of a policy to their activity and their role in covering the practices and violations committed by these forces against Palestinian civilians and property.
M.K.
