Gaza Journalists Allege Targeting and Abuse in Israeli Prisons, Citing Professional Work as Reason for Detention
Palestinian journalists released from Israeli prisons, including Yousef Sharaf and Alaa Al-Sarraj, have reported experiencing beatings, torture, humiliation, and deprivation during their detention. Their testimonies, consistent with those documented by Reporters Without Borders and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, indicate that their journalistic work and professional networks were central to interrogations. Sharaf, arrested on March 19, 2024, after his home was bombed, stated that Israeli soldiers knew he was a journalist and explicitly told him they were there to 'arrest journalists.' Al-Sarraj, arrested in November 2023, similarly reported that his profession became the focus of his interrogation at Sde Teiman, an Israeli military base. Both journalists described severe physical abuse and a lack of medical care, with Sharaf recounting an improvised surgery performed with a razor blade and chlorine due to denied treatment. The Office of the UN Hig... 
