Israel violates rights of Palestinian journalists: NGO

An Arab NGO reported dozens of Israeli rights violations against Palestinian journalists last month.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Journalists Support Committee said the Israeli violations varied from arrests, intimidation, shooting, physical assault to using journalists as human shields.

The NGO said 28 Palestinian journalists were injured in February in attacks by Israeli forces and settlers while covering demolitions of Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem.

It documented six cases when journalists were used as human shields by Israeli forces during clashes with Palestinian protesters.

The statement said two journalists were detained by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Jenin last month. "Israeli forces, in collaboration with settlers, disrupted the work of Palestinian journalists more than 34 times in February," it added.

According to the NGO, social media accounts of seven Palestinian journalists were suspended for alleged violations of publication rules.

These Israeli violations aim to "obliterate the reality of its crimes and terrorism against the Palestinians," it said. There was no comment from Israeli authorities on the report.