Israeli court jails, fines Palestinian journalist amid crackdown

An Israeli court on Sunday sentenced a Palestinian journalist to six months in prison and fined her 13,000 shekels (around US$3,300) in an ongoing crackdown on media in the occupied West Bank.

Rasha Herzallah, 39, who works for the official Wafa news agency, was summoned for investigation to an Israeli detention centre in Hawara on 2 June, where she was placed under administrative detention without charges or trial.

According to various reports, Herzallah's detention was extended five times for "incitement on social media".

Herzallah is one of at least 94 journalists detained by Israeli authorities since October 2023, Wafa reported.

The news agency said three other female journalists, Rola Haasanin, Bushra Al-Tawil and Amal Shujaiyah, also remain in detention.

Herzallah's brother Mohammed was killed in November 2023 after Israeli forces shot him in the head during a raid on Nablus city.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), since Israel launched its war on Gaza there has been an uptick in attacks on Palestinian journalists and media around the region.

The killing and arrests of journalists came amid Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed at least 43,922 Palestinians and wounded over 103,898 others since 7 October 2023.