OHCHR: “Israel” intensifies repression against journalists, human rights defenders and NGOs in occupied Palestine

OCCUPIED PALESTINE, Dec. 17 (YPA) -The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Palestine said that, over the past two years, “Israel” has intensified its repression against journalists, human rights defenders, anti-occupation activists, as well as local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

In its statement issued on Tuesday, OHCHR noted that this severely undermining a range of human rights of Palestinians, including right to freedom of expression, assembly, and association.

Between 7 October 2023 and 14 December 2025, the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has verified “the killing of 289 journalists in Gaza by Israeli military operations, including incidents where there were strong indications that Palestinian journalists were deliberately targeted on account of their work.”

Israeli occupation security and military forces have also detained at least 202 Palestinian journalists from both Gaza and the West Bank between 7 October 2023 and 31 October 2025, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, 41 of whom remained detained as of 31 October 2025.

OHCHR said: “Most were held under administrative detention, which in the context of Israel’s occupation of Palestine results in arbitrary deprivation of liberty and exposes detainees to torture and other ill-treatment, and enforced disappearance.“

@E.Y.M