Palestinian freelance journalist
Salman al-Khatib
and his colleagues were filming
Israeli demolitions
of homes in the occupied West Bank late last month when a young settler approached them, blocked their cameras,
shoved
the journalists, and
kicked
Al-Khatib.
After another settler arrived on the scene, located between the towns of Birzeit and Atara, north of Ramallah, followed minutes later by an Israeli military vehicle, the journalists abandoned their reporting, rushed to their cars, and removed the press vests and helmets that identified them.
“We felt afraid and in real danger, and that a serious problem could happen at any moment,” Al-Khatib told the Committee to Protect Journalists of the August 31 incident.
The episode was one of at least 16 incidents reviewed by CPJ during the first eight months of 2026 in which Israeli settlers assaulted, threatened or obstructed journalists in the Palestinian territory. The incidents affected at least 35 Palestinian, Israeli and international journalists, compared with 13 incidents involving 25 journalists documented by CPJ throughout
2025
.
A Palestinian journalist exits an ambulance upon arriving at Rafidia Hospital in Nablus after reportedly being injured by Israeli settlers while covering the olive harvest in the Palestinian village of Baita, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on November 8, 2025. (Photo: AFP/ Jaafar Ashtiyeh)
Journalists were physically assaulted in at least 11 of the 2026 incidents, including at least three in which they were kicked, six in which they were beaten, hit, or struck, and two in which they were spat on.
They were chased in at least two incidents, while their vehicles were targeted or damaged in at least five. At least five assignments were abandoned or cut short because of threats or violence. In one August confrontation, two journalists lay on the ground as live ammunition was fired meters away.
In at least five episodes, journalists told CPJ that Israeli soldie
… [more]
