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I was illegally detained by the Israeli Army with four other journalists. Here's what happened:

On October 8th 2024, at approximately 01:00 PM, a car with five journalists (an American journalist, a Palestinian journalist, a Russian-Israeli journalist, a Canadian-Israeli videographer, and an Israeli photographer) was stopped at a checkpoint in the northern West Bank. The checkpoint separates Areas C and B, all the journalists are allowed to be on both sides by Israeli occupation law. They were held for an hour and a half in their car, while the IOF collected their documents. The IOF searched the car, going through personal items. The photographer later discovered that her underwear was removed from her bag, placed on top of their belongings.

The soldiers then illegally requested that the journalists hand in their phones, and when they refused, the soldiers pointed a gun at one of the journalists, hit him with their hands and the barrel of a gun, then dragged him out of the car and slammed him onto the concrete. When lying on the ground, they pointed 2 guns at his head. The rest of the journalists exited the car and the military raided it, confiscating phones, cameras, and personal items.

The journalists were told to sit in the sun, in 35°C heat on the side of the road. After an hour, the Palestinian journalist began to feel faint and requested an ambulance be ordered. The soldiers refused and didn’t let anyone move to the shade, shouting insults and Israeli nationalist slogans. After two hours, the soldiers handcuffed and blindfolded the journalists. The Israeli photographer had a panic attack and started throwing up, and after stating she was Israeli, was allowed to remain without a blindfold. The Palestinian journalist was left in the sun for two more hours, then he was released. In the meantime, the other four journalists were stacked on top of each other into a military jeep, and taken to a military base. There they were held blindfolded and handcuffed on the floor for two hours, while being insulted and interrogated by the soldiers. The soldiers told the female Israeli photographer that she should have been raped by Hamas.

At approximately 04.00 PM the IOF passed the illegally detained journalists to the police, who took them to the police station. The two male journalists remained blindfolded until arriving at the Maale Adumim Shai Police Station in an illegal Israeli settlement 1 hour later. At the station, the journalists were forced to be photographed in front of an Israeli flag with a nationalist slogan on it, while the officers were insulting them. A journalist was threatened with physical violence for smiling.

The journalists were interrogated in regards to their political affiliation and work, refused the right to see a lawyer, denied food and water until many repeated requests (the two male journalists were denied food completely). The two female journalists were released without charges at 11:00 PM. The Russian-Israeli journalist was released at midnight. The American journalist was held for three days and was released Friday, October 11th. The army confiscated two phones and one camera that they have yet to return.

This marks a precedent for IOF treatment of Israelis and internationals, but this is the standard procedure for kidnapping Palestinians across the West Bank.

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