GAZA CITY, Palestine

Israeli forces attacked 13 Palestinian print shops and libraries in the occupied West Bank this year, according to a press committee on Wednesday.

In a statement, the Geneva-based Journalist Support Committee, an NGO, said Israeli forces vandalized a print house in Hebron city on Dec. 13 and confiscated all printing equipment inside.

A group of computers were also seized by Israeli soldiers in August from inside a research center in Ramallah, it added.

The committee also cited an Israeli army raid on another print shop in Jenin on July 12 during which “all equipment were confiscated without a pretext”.

The committee called on all international bodies concerned freedom of opinion and expression, including UNESCO, to protect Palestinian press institutions and print shops from Israeli assaults.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara