IDF arrests AFP contributor in West Bank, says he’s suspected of Hamas ties

Israeli forces arrested an AFP stringer in the West Bank in a nighttime raid on his home, the army and his wife say.

Mohammad Ateeq, 34, a video journalist who has contributed to AFP for three years in the West Bank, was blindfolded and taken away from his home in the northern town of Burqin, near Jenin, says his wife Ansam Ateeq.

She says that Israeli troops stormed in at 1:30 a.m. even though he had agreed to open the door himself.

“Despite Mohammad calling out, ‘I’ll open!’, they continued to smash the door until it was forced off its hinges. More than 10 soldiers stormed inside to search the premises, while others remained stationed outside,” she says.

She says Israeli forces confiscated Ateeq’s two phones and tossed his AFP videocamera onto the balcony. They also denied his request to wear a winter coat, she says.

She is due to give birth in around a month to the couple’s first child.

An Israeli military spokesperson confirms the arrest. The spokesperson says Ateeq was arrested because he was suspected of ties with Hamas. He does not immediately offer further details. It is unclear where Ateeq had been taken.