Ceasefire brings some calm but not safety for journalists in Gaza, West Bank | Committee to Protect Journalists

As a fragile ceasefire pushes through a second week, Palestinian journalists in the West Bank and Gaza still face immense risks. Despite a pause in large-scale fighting, attacks, detention and threats to press freedom persist. While seven journalists were released as part of the ceasefire that began on October 10, the Committee to Protect Journalists has documented the killing of two journalists and the injury of another in Gaza. In the West Bank, five journalists were attacked, one arrested, and several harassed. Fourteen foreign journalists and others who had been detained while sailing aboard an aid convoy to Gaza, most of them for four days — were deported in the first days of the ceasefire. Israel’s ongoing media ban remains in place, barring international reporters from entering Gaza, leaving exhausted local journalists as the only witnesses to report on critical developments — a situation that has raised concerns about transparency and significantly hindered the international community’s ability to independently assess the situation on the ground. Gaza: 2 killed, 1 injured - On October 12, journalist Saleh Aljafarawi was killed while covering clashes between Hamas security forces and armed factions in Gaza City’s Al-Sabra neighborhood — the first journalist to die since the October 10 ceasefire. Authorities said the fighting involved the Doghmush clan and the Al-Shabab militia, which Israel has said it is backing to weaken Hamas’ control. Israel’s withdrawal from parts of Gaza, without the deployment of a stabilization force, has created a power vacuum. Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of Gaza’s Government Media Office, told CPJ that Aljafarawi was “killed by gunfire from one of these gangs.” Following his death, Israeli media outlets labelled Aljafarawi a “Gazan internet star affiliated with Hamas” a “terrorist,” and “one of the most recognized activists in Hamas propaganda” during the war, without providing evidence. Israeli media have repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims that many journalists deliberately killed in Gaza were militants. - On October 19, Israel accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire after an anti-tank missile in Rafah killed two soldiers, prompting airstrikes across Gaza that it said targeted “dozens of Hamas sites.” One struck the central Gaza headquarters of Palestine Media Production (PMP), a media production company based in Gaza that provides services to both local and international clients, killing broadcast engineer Ahmed Abu Mutair — the 199th journalist killed by Israel in Gaza since the war began — and injuring PMP camera operator Ismail Jabr. ... West Bank: 5 attacked, 1 arrested ...