Palestinian journalist Ali al-Samoudi, who has been imprisoned by Israel for nearly a 12 months, is now prone to dying, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has warned.
Al-Samoudi, 59, was one of many journalists with Al Jazeera’s Shireen Abu Akleh when she was fatally shot within the head by an Israeli sniper in Jenin, the occupied West Financial institution, in Might 2022.
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He was arrested by Israeli forces in April final 12 months throughout an early morning raid on his son’s residence in Jenin on prices of allegedly transferring funds to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which Israel considers a terrorist organisation.
Israel later mentioned it discovered “no enough proof” in opposition to him, nevertheless.
Since Might 2025, al-Samoudi, who was additionally injured by gunfire when Abu Akleh was killed, has been underneath arbitrary detention.
In a statement issued in January, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate mentioned al-Samoudi has not been granted a good trial and that his arrest is “a blatant violation of worldwide regulation and press freedom”.
The syndicate additionally warned “that his life is now in danger” as a result of harsh and inhumane remedy he has been experiencing in jail.
Why has Israel arrested him? How has he been handled in jail?
Right here’s what we all know:
Why did Israel arrest al-Samoudi?
Israel initially arrested al-Samoudi on prices of funding terrorism.
He was detained in a army barracks in Jenin, within the occupied West Financial institution, then transferred to the Jalameh detention centre, close to Haifa in Israel, and later to Megiddo jail in northern Israel, the Palestinian information company, Wafa, reported.
On Might 8, 2025, Wafa reported that an Israeli courtroom had issued an administrative detention order in opposition to him for a interval of six months.
This was as a result of the Israeli military mentioned it didn’t have “enough proof” to formally cost him and had therefore issued an administrative detention order.
In a press release issued to the USA information group CNN, the Israeli military mentioned: “As enough proof was not discovered in opposition to him, and in mild of the collected intelligence materials, safety authorities requested to contemplate issuing an administrative detention order.”
The army acknowledged the order was justified as al-Samoudi’s “presence” posed “a hazard to the safety of the area”.
Since then, al-Samoudi has been held in administrative detention and his detention order has been repeatedly renewed.
In January this 12 months, Israel prolonged al-Samoudi’s detention for the third time, for an extra 4 months.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has referred to as the transfer “a blatant violation of human rights”.
What’s administrative detention?
Administrative detention is a protocol underneath which an individual will be imprisoned with out cost or trial for an unspecified time interval.
According to B’Tslem, the Israeli info centre for human rights within the occupied territory, the Israel Jail Service (IPS) was holding 3,474 Palestinians in administrative detention on the finish of September 2025.
The human rights group famous that Israel often makes use of administrative detention for Palestinians “for durations starting from a number of months to a number of years, with out charging them, with out telling them what they’re accused of, and with out disclosing the alleged proof to them or to their attorneys”.
“The ability to incarcerate individuals who haven’t been convicted and even charged with something for prolonged durations of time, primarily based on secret ‘proof’ that they can not problem, is an excessive energy,” B’Tslem mentioned, noting that Israeli courts routinely uphold such detention orders.
In line with the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS), which helps Palestinian detainees in Israel and advocates for them, as of July 2025, al-Samoudi was one in every of 22 Palestinian journalists being held in administrative detention.
In a September 2025 report, Wafa reported that al-Samoudi had informed his lawyer he had been knowledgeable that Israel wouldn’t deliver prices in opposition to him associated to his journalistic work “lest there be a global backlash and scandal for Israel”.
“I used to be shot the day my colleague Shireen Abu Akleh was martyred, so my detention is bigoted, unjust, and unlawful,” he mentioned.
What situations is al-Samoudi being held in?
The PPS reported that in detention, al-Samoudi’s well being has deteriorated considerably.
“Al-Samoudi has misplaced roughly 40 kilograms of his physique weight and suffers from a number of medical situations, together with scabies, diabetes, hypertension, abdomen ulcers, steady gum bleeding, sudden coronary heart fee spikes, recurrent fainting episodes, power complications, urinary tract infections, and issues in his left ear, amid deliberate medical neglect,” the PPS reported final month.
Wafa reported that when he was held in Part 15 of Israel’s infamous Negev jail in September final 12 months, he was additionally refused medical remedy.
Throughout his switch to Megiddo, he was handled in an “inhumane method with garments being confiscated and his glasses damaged”, Wafa reported, citing the Palestinian Detainees and Ex-Detainees Authority.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate mentioned it has issued an “pressing attraction” to international human rights organisations and journalists’ unions to “exert strain” on Israel “to finish the coverage of administrative detention in opposition to journalists, safe the rapid launch of Ali Al-Samoudi, and maintain these accountable accountable for the continued violations in opposition to Palestinian journalism”.
The syndicate acknowledged: “The continued use of administrative detention in opposition to journalists represents a scientific coverage geared toward silencing the Palestinian voice and suppressing the reality.”
Has Israel detained or killed Palestinian journalists prior to now?
Sure. Israel has a observe file of arresting and killing Palestinian journalists.
According to a report by Reporters With out Borders (RSF), final 12 months 67 journalists had been killed globally, of which 29 had been Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Thibaut Bruttin, RSF’s director normal, mentioned these journalists had been killed “not accidentally, and so they weren’t collateral victims. They had been killed, focused for his or her work.”
Practically 300 journalists and media staff have been killed by Israeli assaults in Gaza throughout 26 months of genocidal conflict since October 2023 – or about 12 journalists each month – in keeping with a tally by Shireen.ps, a monitoring web site named after Abu Akleh.
In line with a January 2026 report by the Committee to Shield Journalists (CPJ), the variety of Palestinian journalists imprisoned by Israel has additionally risen for the reason that onset of the beginning of the Israel-Gaza conflict in October 2023. Whereas a US-brokered ceasefire was introduced in October 2025, Israeli strikes on Gaza have continued, killing no less than 591 Palestinians since then.
The journalists’ rights physique famous that Israel had arrested greater than 90 Palestinian journalists in the course of the course of the conflict.
“Typically, journalists are imprisoned on undisclosed prices or held with out cost in arbitrary detention – in contravention of worldwide regulation,” the CPJ report acknowledged. “Whereas Israeli residents take pleasure in some civil rights and freedoms, authorized specialists determine a radically totally different commonplace of justice for Palestinians in its occupied territory.”
Moreover killing and imprisoning journalists, Israel has additionally banned overseas reporters from getting into Gaza. Only some exceptions have been made for journalists agreeing to enter as a part of tightly managed excursions organised by the Israeli army – regardless of calls from media teams and press freedom organisations for extra open entry.
