Gaza Journalists Speak Out as Ceasefire Arrives: “We May Have Survived Physically, But Not Mentally”
October 10, 2025
A Drone Strike’s Silence: The Killing of Photojournalist Antoni Lallican
October 11, 2025
October 11, 2025 – Palestine –
An AFP photojournalist, identified as Jaafar Ashtiyeh, was injured on October 10, 2025, while covering the olive harvest in the Palestinian village of Beita, south of Nablus, when Israeli settlers launched a violent assault.
Ashtiyeh, a seasoned photographer with three decades of experience, said he had never before encountered such brutality. “If I hadn’t managed to escape, they would have killed me,” he later told AFP reporters. According to his account, two groups of some 70 settlers, armed with sticks and stones, descended on the harvesters and accompanying media teams. He was struck by multiple stones to the back, arm, and hand before being rushed to the hospital, where he was treated and released later the same day.
Beyond personal injury, Ashtiyeh’s vehicle was targeted: it was stoned and ultimately set ablaze, along with several others parked nearby in what appeared as a coordinated escalation. He alleged that Israeli soldiers present at the scene did not intervene to stop the attackers. Instead, he claimed, they fired tear gas and rubber bullets at Palestinian harvesters and activists, ostensibly to disperse them.
The assault came amid broader hostilities in the area. On that same day, 36 people in Beita and adjacent villages were reported wounded in related clashes involving illegal settlers and Israeli forces. AFP’s global editor-in-chief, Mehdi Leboucher, condemned the attack as “outrageous” and called for Israeli military protection of journalists and accountability for the perpetrators.
The case underscores the intensifying dangers faced by media workers operating in the occupied West Bank—particularly during the olive harvest season, when tensions between Palestinian farmers and settlers frequently escalate. Ashtiyeh’s ordeal elevates concerns about the shrinking space for safe journalism in conflict zones and the imperative for international scrutiny of violence against the press.
Reference –
