Despite wearing vests marked 'Press', two journalists were hospitalised with serious injuries caused by projectiles; others were tear gassed whilst filming the demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
This statement was originally published on madacenter.org on 21 July 2019.
The Palestinian Center for Development & Media Freedoms ”MADA” condemns the continuous Israeli occupation forces’ (IOF) attacks against female and male journalists in Palestine by using deadly force against them to suppress them and exclude them from the location of events.
The most recent of these incidents involved firing live bullets at a group of journalists east of Al-Bureij refugee camp in Gaza Strip, wounding in the process Al-Aqsa TV photographer Sami Misran with a live bullet in the eye, and journalist Safinaz with a rubber-coated metal bullet in the back. Journalist Ayat Arqawi and journalist Omar Al-Amour were hurt in a separate attack in the West Bank.
According to eyewitnesses, MADA’s researcher in Gaza found that a group of journalists who were covering a peaceful demonstration held on Friday 19 July 2019 east of the Al-Bureij Camp, had gathered around a girl who was shot by the Israeli army during her participation in the demonstration in order to film her. However, one of the soldiers immediately fired at the journalists and demonstrators who were gathered in the area. This resulted in the injury of the journalist Sami Misran by an explosive fragment in the left eye, while Safinaz was also injured by a rubber-coated metal bullet in the shoulder, resulting in a minor fracture and she was admitted to Al-Aqsa Hospital for treatment.
Misran, who was admitted to the ICU at the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, was seriously injured. One of the fragments injured his eye directly, and he was struck even though he and the other journalists were wearing a vest identifying them as “Press”.
The father of the journalist Sami Misran said in a statement to MADA that the medical staff at the Al-Shifa Medical Complex transferred his son on Saturday 20 July 2019 so that he could undergo an operation to remove the fragment from his cornea. Indeed, he underwent an operation for his eye and is still under the supervision of doctors who are monitoring the results of the operation.
In the West Bank, the Israeli occupation forces attacked the female and male journalists who were covering a peaceful sit-in organized by families as the Israeli occupation forces were planning to demolish their homes in Wadi Al-Homs. They attacked the demonstrators and journalists with a barrage of gas bombs while they were covering the sit-in, wounding Ayat Arqawi, a staff member of the APA Agency in the abdomen, as well as journalist Omar Al-Amour in his back.
MADA stated that these attacks were nothing but a link in a series of massive and serious Israeli attacks against media freedom in Palestine, which amounted to 28 attacks during June. MADA renews its call to international and human rights organizations to make an effort to persecute the perpetrators of these attacks and bring them to justice. History has shown that impunity for perpetrators of these attacks and other crimes over the years encourage them to continue to commit the same crimes.
