Israel launched a large-scale military operation on 3 July in the Jenin refugee camp, in the northern occupied West Bank, killing at least 10 Palestinians and injuring over 100. Three thousand people have been evacuated.
Several journalists - all wearing safety gear and equipment labelled ‘press’ - who were covering the attacks were directly targeted by Israeli forces.
According to PJS, Israeli officers shot at Isam Abu Shaqra and Isam Al Rimawi from Anadolu agency and Abdulrahman Younis from Russia Today as they were reporting on the ground.
Israeli soldiers also shot live ammunition at Al-Araby TV reporter Amid Shehadeh and cameraman Rabi Munir's camera and transmitter as they were reporting live inside the camp. Shooting continued until the transmitter was blown up and the camera fell off the tripod, Al-Araby reported. The Al-Araby team took shelter in a nearby house, where they remained trapped until they were escorted out of the house by the Red Cross and Red Crescent and evacuated by ambulance.
In a video, Palestinian journalist Ali Al-Samoudi, who was also reporting from Jenin, said: "We are facing grave threats to our lives. It is clear that there was a decision from occupying forces to prevent journalists from covering what was happening in the camp."
PJS said that journalists were again prevented from covering the events in Jenin on 4 July.
Al-Araby has called the attack a "blatant targeting of journalist crews and their equipment for no reason other than deliberately harming journalists, hindering their work and disrupting their coverage" and denounced "a clear violation of international human rights norms and standards guaranteeing the safety of journalists".
The IFJ recalls that this is not the first time that media workers have been targeted in Jenin. On 19 June, journalist Hazem Nasser, a cameraman for the Al-Ghad TV channel, was shot at and wounded, despite wearing a vest labelled ‘press’, during a raid.
On 11 May 2022, the Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead in the head by the Israeli army while covering a raid in Jenin. She was wearing a blue flak jacket clearly labelled ‘PRESS’.
PJS has called on all journalists to take precautions and wear professional safety equipment and not to travel without their media providing them with all the professional safety equipment needed to cover events in such dangerous conditions.
IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: "We firmly condemn this deliberate targeting of journalists in Jenin and call on Israel to stop using journalists as targets. Once again, we remind Israel of its international commitment to press freedom and human rights. These constant attacks on the press must cease immediately."