Three Palestinian women journalists—Rula Hassanein, Bushra Al-Tawil, and Ashwaq Awad—were released from Israeli prisons as part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Their release was among 90 Palestinian detainees freed in exchange for Israeli hostages under the first phase of the January 19 ceasefire deal.
Bushra Al-Tawil, a journalist with J-Media Network and a member of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS), was detained on March 7, 2024, and held under administrative detention without formal charges. She has been repeatedly arrested over the years and has spent over five years cumulatively in Israeli custody.
Rula Hassanein, a prominent journalist formerly with Wattan News Agency and an Al Jazeera contributor, was arrested during a home raid in Bethlehem on March 9, 2024. At the time of her arrest, she was nursing her nine-month-old daughter. She was accused of “incitement” over social media posts but had not been tried or convicted.
Ashwaq Awad, a freelance photographer with Quds News Network and PJS member, was arrested on August 31, 2024, at a checkpoint near Hebron. Like the others, she was charged with incitement based on her journalism-related social media activity.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and the UK’s National Union of Journalists (NUJ) welcomed the women’s release but condemned their arrests as unjust. IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger stated that none of the women should have been imprisoned and called on Israeli authorities to end their repression of Palestinian journalists.
The prisoner swap occurred as part of a broader ceasefire deal that includes a temporary halt to hostilities and phased Israeli troop withdrawals from Gaza. The journalists’ release is seen as a symbolic but important development, highlighting the use of detention as a tool to silence the press.
Media freedom groups continue to call for the release of all imprisoned Palestinian journalists and demand full press access to Gaza to ensure transparency and accountability during and after the conflict.
