An Israeli soldier has shared a photo capturing the abduction of freelance Palestinian journalist Marah Awad during a raid on her home in the southern West Bank, amid ongoing Israeli incursions into al-Khalil that have displaced nearly 5,000 people under a lockdown.

The picture shows Awad blindfolded and handcuffed, standing beside a masked and armed Israeli soldier outside a house in Beit Ummar town, located eleven kilometers (6.8 miles) northwest of al-Khalil, at night.

Palestinian media outlets expressed resentment over the image, denouncing it as a “provocative scene.”

The photo has been widely circulating online by accounts documenting events in the occupied West Bank.

According to her brother and local sources, Israeli occupation forces broke into Awad’s family home in the early hours of last Monday, violently ransacked it, and took her away after blindfolding and handcuffing her.

“Israeli army forces stormed the family home at dawn, asked about my sister Marah, and searched the house in a rough manner,” Hamouda Awad, the journalist’s brother, said.

“They assaulted me. After confirming my sister’s identity, one of the officers asked her, ‘What do you write about Israel?’ He accused her of incitement against the regime, seized her phone and computer, then the soldiers tied her hands, blindfolded her, and took her to an unknown location.”

Family members said they still do not know anything about her whereabouts, and what charges, if any, have been filed against her.

Attempts by Palestinian prisoners’ advocacy groups to obtain information about her well-being have so far yielded no results.

Palestinian journalist released after 450 days in Israeli custody

Farah Abu Ayyash, who works for Iran’s Tasnim News Agency as a correspondent, was abducted on August 6, 2025 and was released on Thursday night.

On Thursday, Farah Abu Ayyash, a Palestinian journalist affiliated with Iran’s Tasnim news agency, was released from prison after suffering torture and mistreatment for 450 days while held illegally in Israeli custody.

Abu Ayyash was abducted on August 6, 2025, after Israeli forces conducted a raid on her home in Beit Ummar.

She was then moved to Moscovia Detention Center in occupied al-Quds, where she reported experiencing torture, harassment, and mistreatment from prison guards.

For several months, Tasnim chose not to reveal her situation due to worries about her proceedings in Israeli courts and potential risks to her family.

However, after Abu Ayyash successfully sent her testimony from prison detailing the abuse she endured, the news agency decided to make her ordeal public.

The cases of Awad and Abu Ayyash illustrate a broader trend of repression against Palestinian and foreign journalists in the occupied regions.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has reported that around 250 journalists and media workers have lost their lives since the beginning of a genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, with over 200 of those being Palestinians in the besieged coastal area.