Here we list four jurnalists arrested and imrpisoned for telling the truth of the occupation
Farah Abu Ayash
Farah Abu Ayash is a 25-year-old Palestinian journalist who works for Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.
Farah was arrested in the early hours of the morning from her home in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron on the 6th August 2025.
Farah’s lawyer, Ihab al-Ghalayidh reports that the Israeli police have accused Farah of having ‘contact with a foreign agent’, no evidence has been provided to back this claim.
Farah has told of being subject to abuse from the moment of her arrest. She said that military dogs tore at her trousers, her hands were bound tightly with zip ties, and she was tied to a leaking water pipe that left her soaked through the night. She reported being forced to hand over her phone’s password.
Farah said conditions at Al-Moskobiya prison felt like a “horror movie.” She said that while she was ill, guards placed heavy chains on her shoulders, slammed her head against a wall, pulled her by the hair. Farah tells of being beaten when she refused to kiss the Israeli falg.
Farah described unsanitary conditions in Aylon prison, noting she was held in a cell infested with rats, cockroaches, and bedbugs that crawled over her body and face, leaving marks that she said remained visible. Farah was denied access to a shower and not given clean clothing.
Farah spent at least 55 days in solitary confinement and suffered from medical neglect, routine beatings and verbal abuse, and the repeated stripping of her headscarf. Farah told her lawyer she was subjected to strip searches and experienced harassment.
Farah remains in detention as her trial is repeatedly rescheduled by the Israeli Ofer military Court
Abdelhameed Hamdona
Palestinian journalist Abdelhameed Hamdona was arrested on 20th November 2023 while evacuating his family south during an Israeli offensive on Gaza City. Hamdona was released on October 13, 2025, as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, after nearly two years in detention.
Abdelhameed Hamdona told of being detained by Israeli forces at the Netzarim checkpoint, he was first taken to Israel’s Sde Teiman detention camp near Gaza, then transferred to Ktzi’ot Prison in the Negev Desert, where he remained until his release.
Abdelhameed Hamdona tells of his experience of detainment :
“The soldiers forced me to strip, interrogated me, and beat me severely on my back and body. They confiscated about $6,000 dollars I was carrying, insulted me, and demanded I confess to belonging to a Palestinian faction,”
Abdelhameed Hamdona said. “An officer even threatened to rape my wife, who was with me and our children.”
Abdelhameed Hamdona described inhumane conditions, including restricted toilet access, cold-water showers during periods of extreme cold, and no access to hygiene supplies. He tells :
“Inside the detention facilities, I was subjected to *shabeh* (stress-position torture), beatings, starvation, repression, and physical assault during transfers, in addition to attacks by police dogs.”
Abdelhameed appeared four times via video conference before a military judge, who repeatedly extended his detention on the grounds that he was a “security threat to Israel” and designated him an “unlawful combatant.”
Ahmed Abdel Aal
Freelance journalist Ahmed Abdel Aal was arrested by the IDF on 18th March 2024, during an offensive at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital complex.
Ahmed Abdel Aal said he was brought before court five times via video conference but was not allowed to present a defence or speak directly with the judge. Ahmed Abdel Aal reported that Israeli authorities had accused him of being a terrorist. He was never sentenced and was released on 13th October 2025 as part of the ceasefire deal after approximately 19 months in detention.
Ahmed Abdel Aal told of being held in several detention facilities during his imprisonment, including Sde Teiman Detention Camp, Ashkelon Prison, Ofer Prison, and Ktz’iot Prison.
Ahmed Abdel Aal described being kept blindfolded and handcuffed for extended periods, subjected to repeated beatings, and interrogated about his journalistic work.
Ahmed Abdel Aal told he was subjected to sensory deprivation in what detainees term the “disco room”.
Sami al-Sai
Freelance reporter Sami al-Sai was arrested by the IDF at his home in Tulkarem’s Artah neighborhood, on 23rd February 2024. Twenty Israeli soldiers raided and vandalized his home, handcuffed Al-Sai and his brother, Osama, with plastic ties and taken to an unknown destination without informing him of the reason for his arrest.
Sami al-Sai was held in administrative detention for 16 months, he was accused of being “a member of Hamas and acting to undermine the security of the state.” Sami al-Sai was released on 10th June 2025.
Sami al-Sai spent the majority of his detention in Megiddo Prison where he was subject to beatings, blindfolded, shackled, humiliated, sexually assaulted and raped him using a baton. Sami al-Sai described experiencing extreme physical pain and repeated assaults on sensitive areas of his body, including the site of a kidney donation surgery he had undergone before his arrest.
“On the twentieth day of my detention, I was transferred to Megiddo Prison,” Sami al-Sai said, “there, on my very first day, I was subjected to sexual assault”
Sami al-Sai described how soldiers “took me to a narrow place—a cell. While my hands and feet were shackled and I was blindfolded, they threw me onto the ground after removing my pants and underwear. They began to assault me by penetrating me with sticks and solid objects, then a carrot, amid laughter and mockery. They grabbed my penis and testicles and pulled them very violently. I suffered intense pain and severe distress.”
Sami al-Sai said between four and six prison guards participated in the assault, one of whom spoke Arabic. Sami al-Sai said he heard one telling the others not to film in Hebrew. “which suggests they were recording what they were doing to me,”
Sami al-Sai reports that following the sexual assault he was taken to to a section with prisoners (section 10 in Meggido Prison) , where he went into the bathroom to shower and saw blood coming from the rectal area. He bled for 20 days during which he tried to stop the bleeding using tissues due to the lack of medical care in the prison, he used tissues.
Sami al-Sai provided an account to the BBC article ‘Palestinians tell BBC they were sexually abused in Israeli prisons’ published on 19th December 2025.
