RAMALLAH, Palestine 

At least 40 Palestinian journalists have been taken into Israeli custody in the occupied West Bank since last October, prisoners’ affairs groups said on Tuesday.

“Israeli forces detained 61 journalists since Oct. 7, 2023, of which 21 were released,” the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.

Three women journalists are among the detainees, while 23 reporters are being held without trial or charge under Israel’s notorious policy of administrative detention, the statement said.

Tensions have been running high across the occupied territory since Israel launched a deadly military offensive against the Gaza Strip following an Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which killed some 1,200 people.

At least 435 Palestinians have since been killed, over 4,700 injured and 7,630 others detained in the occupied territory, according to Palestinian figures.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza, which has killed more than 31,800 since last October.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul