Ramallah – Zaytoun News
The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) has issued its mid‑year report on the state of media freedoms in Palestine, covering the first six months of 2025. The report reveals a serious and unprecedented escalation in violations against media freedoms, documenting a total of 537 crimes and assaults against journalists and media institutions in the West Bank—including East Jerusalem—and the Gaza Strip. This report was produced with the support of the European Union Office in Jerusalem as part of the project “Strengthening Civic Space and Community Accountability in Palestine”.
The findings show a 64% increase in violations compared to the first half of 2024. During this period, the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip witnessed 537 documented crimes and assaults, up from 327 in the first half of 2024—an increase of 210 violations.
According to the report, the Israeli occupation bears primary responsibility, accounting for 494 violations, or 92% of all documented cases—a 55% rise from the same period last year. The most severe included the killing of 49 journalists, most of whom were directly targeted while performing their media duties, plus 77 physical injuries inflicted by live ammunition, stun grenades, tear gas, and severe shrapnel injuries from rocket attacks in Gaza.
Meanwhile, 34 violations were committed by Palestinian parties—representing 6% of the total—an alarming 278% increase compared to the 9 violations recorded during the same period in 2024. These included arrests, summons, prohibitions on coverage, confiscation of equipment, and other types of violations.
Additionally, five violations were carried out by social media platforms against Palestinian media content. Though few in number, they reflect longstanding discriminatory digital policies exercised by major corporations toward Palestinian content, underscoring the need for sustained rights-based advocacy to ensure transparency and equitable content governance. Further violations—four in total—were attributed to other parties.
The report emphasizes that this escalation reflects a deeply concerning deterioration in the working environment for journalists in Palestine, who face unprecedented dangers that threaten their lives and restrict their fundamental rights to freedom of expression and access to information—especially in the absence of legal protection and accountability.
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