Ramallah, November 19 (RHC)-- The Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, has strongly denounced the Tel Aviv regime’s deliberate targeting of Palestinian journalists in the occupied territories, describing the policy as a new attempt by Israeli authorities to conceal their crimes.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasem said in a statement on Monday that “Israel’s crime of deliberately targeting photojournalist Moaz Amarneh is fairly heinous, and confirms the intransigence and defiance of the Israeli army as regards all norms and international law.”

Qasem stressed that Palestinian journalists will remain present in conflict zones, and will continue to exercise their right to publish fair accounts irrespective of the Israeli regime’s crimes against them.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh showed solidarity with Amarneh during a cabinet meeting in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday, and covered his left eye.  “If Israel wants to shut down Moaz’s eyes, all of our eyes are his,” Shtayyeh said.

He added that Israel targets Palestinian journalists “to silence the voice of truth,” noting that Israeli forces did not only attack Amarneh’s eyes, but also quelled a sit-in staged by journalists in support of the injured photojournalist and viciously attacked them.

Shtayyeh praised the widespread popular solidarity movement with Amarneh, emphasizing that his deliberate targeting sheds light on the situation of other Palestinians who have fallen prey to Israel, most notably the Abu Malhous Sawarkeh family, which lost eight of its members in an airstrike carried out by Israeli warplanes in the Gaza Strip last week.

According to a report released by the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate (PJS), Israeli forces committed 600 rights violations against Palestinian journalists between October 2018 and October 2019 in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem al-Quds and the Gaza Strip.

The report added that Israeli forces shot 60 journalists, who suffered serious wounds. Some 43 journalists were also hit by sound grenades directly thrown at them by Israeli forces.  “More than 170 journalists were beaten, detained or banned from coverage,” the report also revealed.

The report further noted that 10 journalists were detained during this period, raising the number of journalists inside Israeli jails to 18.