Since 7 October 2023, a mounting body of evidence indicates that Palestinian media professionals are being targeted not as isolated victims, but as part of a coherent and systematic policy of repression.
According to monitoring organisations, numerous journalists have been arrested, held without charge, forcibly disappeared or subjected to treatment amounting to torture.
Legal frameworks such as the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court define secret detention, enforced disappearance and torture as crimes against humanity — when they are part of a state-driven policy.
First-hand testimonies and NGO reports reveal detainees facing deprivation of sleep and food, solitary confinement, humiliating searches, threats of sexual violence and forced stripping.
Meanwhile, access for international media and independent investigators is being blocked or severely restricted, undermining transparency and allowing evidence of war-time abuses to be erased.
In this context, legal observers are calling for an immediate independent international investigation and referral to the International Criminal Court. Protection mechanisms for journalists must be reinforced, and the locations and status of the disappeared must be disclosed without delay.