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Israel and Palestine: A year on, the assault on freedom of expression continues

Article 19 

ARTICLE 19 strongly condemns Israel’s intensified censorship of information related to the conflict and human rights of Palestinians. This has impacted the ability to document and report on human rights violations and tackle impunity for crimes committed. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 128 journalists and media workers have been killed since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza – making it the deadliest conflict for journalists in modern history. ARTICLE 19 is particularly concerned by the growing body of evidence indicating Israel’s targeted attacks and killings of media workers. Those journalists who are still alive and their families have experienced immeasurable hardship since the start of the war. Some reporters working with international media have evacuated from Gaza since 7 October, as their outlets were not able to guarantee their safety.

West Bank Israeli settlers fundraise online for military equipment

The New Arab

Heavily armed and openly coordinated across a range of online platforms, networks of connected fighters have emerged to secure and develop Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank. Drawing on open-source intelligence (OSINT) methods, the findings of our ten-month-long investigation flesh out how Israeli settler militias in the occupied West Bank fundraised through NGOs more than $3.75 million since 7 October 2023. Some of the most violent settlements receive aid from Canada, the US and the UK for the purchase of military equipment. All this was made possible via the internet and gaps in nonprofit and online platform regulatory enforcement across borders.

Human rights NGOs say social media platforms continue to censor pro-Palestine content

Euronews

One year after the escalation between Israel and Hamas, some NGOs claim little progress has been made to stop the suppression of pro-Palestine content. Human rights NGOs say little progress has been made to stop the digital censorship of pro-Palestine voices on social media networks, one year into the escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict. The war broke out last year when Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an attack in southern Israel where they took 250 people hostage and killed 1,200. Israel responded with air strikes and by sending ground troops to the Gaza Strip, with the war killing around 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Sada Social watch group releases report titled "A Year of Digital Erasure of Palestinians"

Palestine News Network

Sada Social Center for Palestinian Digital Rights released a report titled "A Year of Digital Erasure of Palestinians," which includes monitoring digital violations that coincided with Israeli attacks on Palestinians, from October 7, 2023, for a full year. The report focused on the multiple dimensions of digital erasure, which included the suppression of Palestinian content, the imposition of censorship on social media and the targeting of Palestinian journalists. According to the report, Palestinian content on social media platforms was subjected to over 23,000 digital violations. Meta platforms accounted for 56% of these violations, TikTok for 25%, X(Twitter) for 15%, and SoundCloud made up 3.7%.