Israeli forces attack Palestinian journalists near Nablus

Israeli forces injured five Palestinian journalists on Monday in an attack on a television crew in the village of Deir Sharaf, west of Nablus.

One journalist, Mutaz Sudani, was hit in the face by a rifle-shot tear gas canister while the rest were treated for asphyxiation with tear gas, following the shooting of a talk show episode at the entrance of the village.

Israeli forces had closed the entrance to Deir Sharaf with dirt mounds last week, following a shooting attack that killed an Israeli soldier north of Nablus.

"Deir Sharaf is located on the road leading to Nablus from the west", Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian civil activist against Israeli settlements in the northern West Bank told The New Arab.

"As part of the closure that the occupation forces imposed on Nablus, Deir Sharaf was sealed off, closing both the village and the access to Nablus," said Daghlas. "It has been a week that people can’t leave freely and that Palestinians can’t enter Nablus from the west."

The television crew was shooting an episode of a popular program Today's Portfolio.

While on duty, a number of Palestinian journalists working at Palestine TV were assaulted by the lsraeli occupation forces in Deir Sharaf, northwest of Nablus city. pic.twitter.com/5ajNfmoVVk

— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) October 18, 2022

"We arrived at the village's entrance and the producer spoke to the Israeli army officer at the location, who indicated to us where we were allowed to place the set and the cameras," Baker Abdel Haq, a member of the crew, told The New Arab.

"There were cameramen, sound technicians, the producer, the presenter and guests, and the program went on smoothly while Israeli soldiers watched from a nearby distance," said Abdel Haq. "As soon as the shooting ended, Israeli soldiers began to fire tear gas canisters towards us, and there was no one else in the place", he said. "Our cameraman Mutaz Sudani was directly hit in the face by a tear gas canister while four others began to choke, and part of our gear was damaged too".

"We immediately began to gather our material and leave without exchanging words with the soldiers," he added.

Israeli occupation forces target Palestinian journalists working at Palestine TV with tear gas canisters in Nablus, which has been besieged by the occupation forces for the 7th day in a row.#Nablus#IsraeliApartheid#israelicrimes pic.twitter.com/GLhhisOUlO

— khadja Moeter (@materkhadja) October 18, 2022

"This is the fourth aggression on us by Israeli forces or settlers in less than a month," pointed out Abdel Haq.

"We were attacked at Deir Al-Hatab, west of Nablus, in early October, where I personally survived Israeli soldiers' bullets by a miracle," he recalled.

"In mid-October in Huwara, south of Nablus, Israeli settlers attacked us with stones, then about a week ago in Deir Sharaf, Israeli soldiers attacked us, and lastly on Monday in Deir Sharaf again," he added.

Israeli forces committed 479 aggressions against Palestinian journalists in the first half of 2022 alone, according to the Palestinian Journalists Union.

Five Palestinian journalists from Palestine TV were last night injured after they were assaulted by Israeli occupation forces near the entrance of the village of Deir Sharaf, west of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus

More: https://t.co/b1FDhbaBNO pic.twitter.com/cZ0pA8fQaJ

— Wafa News Agency - English (@WAFANewsEnglish) October 18, 2022

These include physical aggressions, banning from coverage, confiscation of material and the killing in May of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, and in June of Palestinian radio presenter Ghufran Warasneh on her first day of work.

In September, Israeli forces arrested Palestinian journalist Lama Ghosheh in Jerusalem for ten days, before releasing her on condition of not leaving her house and not using social media.