Gaza journalist Mohamed Arab in court 29 months after arrest

The Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate and lawyers following the case say that Mohamed Saber Arab, who reported for Al Araby TV from northern Gaza, appeared markedly thinner and physically weakened at recent hearings before an Israeli military court.

Arab was seized on 18 March 2024 during an Israeli raid on al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, and has since been moved between several Israeli detention facilities, among them Sde Teiman and the Naqab prison.

His lawyer, Khaled Mahajneh, together with Palestinian legal and human rights organisations, says he is held under Israel's designation of "unlawful combatant", and that no clear indictment has been presented against him.

They say he was kept shackled for long periods, blindfolded for weeks at a time and deprived of sleep, and that he saw other detainees carrying severe injuries, including amputations.

The designation is the mechanism that makes the length possible. It allows detention without the charge that would otherwise have to be argued in front of a judge, so a hearing can be held without the case against a detainee ever being set out.

Palestinian press and rights bodies place the case within a wider count: 265 journalists killed in Gaza since the start of the war, more than 150 journalists and media workers detained since October 2023, and more than 40 still in custody.

Each of those detentions also removes a reporter from a place where the number of people still able to record what happens has fallen steadily, which is why press bodies treat the count as a measure of coverage lost as well as of individuals held.