A group of settlers attacked Rimawi while he was covering their violations in the area. They severely beat him with a wooden stick, causing him a head injury and loss of consciousness. The assailants also seized his journalistic equipment before leaving the site.
Al-Rimawi was transferred to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah, where he underwent medical examinations to assess his condition. Doctors reported that his level of consciousness was reduced as a result of the direct head injury.
This attack comes amidst an escalation in the targeting of Palestinian journalists by settlers and Israeli occupation forces, amid ongoing aggression against Palestinian cities and towns, particularly in the northern West Bank, in parallel with the ongoing war of extermination in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023.
On May 16, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate documented approximately 80 Israeli violations and attacks against journalists in Gaza and the West Bank during the month of April alone.
These violations included the killing of three journalists in Gaza, as well as direct gunfire, the destruction of homes, the arrest and beating of journalists, the detention of media crews, exposure to tear gas, incitement, threats, home invasions, and unfair trials.
The Syndicate affirms that the pace of Israeli targeting of the Palestinian press is escalating, despite its ongoing efforts to communicate with relevant international organizations to provide legal and field protection for media workers.
The number of journalists killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war has risen to 220, according to the Government Media Office, following the martyrdom of journalist Hassan Majdi Abu Warda on May 25 as a result of Israeli shelling.
