American journalist Jeremy Loffredo reportedly arrested by Israel
West Bank - American journalist Jeremy Loffredo is reportedly being kept in Israeli custody after he was arrested along with several other reporters.
Independent journalist and Kompass Media founder Andrey X on Wednesday reported the arrests on social media, saying, "Today I was beaten, kidnapped, blindfolded and taken to a military base by the Israeli Occupation Forces, together with 4 other journalists."
"Two of us were held for 11 hours without charges, my phone was confiscated (stolen), and one of us is still in custody," he added.
The Grayzone News editor Max Blumenthal later stated that Jeremy Loffredo, an independent journalist and filmmaker based out of New York City, was still in an Israeli jail.
"His phone has been confiscated. That is all I'm able to say for now," Blumenthal said.
Just days ago, the Grayzone released a video report by Loffredo exposing what he described as an Israeli cover-up of the significance of Iranian missile strikes last week. He had traveled to Israel and the illegally occupied West Bank to conduct his investigation and document rocket impact sites.
Loffredo found that Iran had targeted Israeli military infrastructure – including the Nevatim Airbase and Mossad intelligence agency headquarters in Tel Aviv – used to carry out brutal attacks in the Middle East.
He also reported that Israel has denied non-Jewish citizens access to bomb shelters, which are available in Jewish communities.
Israel ramps up violent attacks across the Middle East
Iran's missile firings this month came in response to the Israeli killings of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, and Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Abbas Nilforoushan.
Last April, Israel launched an airstrike on an Iranian embassy complex in Damascus, Syria, killing 16 people.
In recent weeks, Israel has amplified its attacks in the Middle East. Its bombardment and invasion of Lebanon have killed more than 1,200 people since September 23.
The violence comes on top of more than a year of what an increasing number of experts and scholars have declared a full-blown genocide in Gaza, where the Palestinian people have been subjected to relentless bombardment, mass displacements, disease, and an Israeli starvation campaign. At least 42,065 people have been killed in that time period, according to official figures, although the true number is assumed to be far higher.
Military and settler attacks have also ramped up in the West Bank, even after an International Court of Justice ruling determined Israel's occupation of the land to be illegal.
Israel has been accused of targeting journalists in an effort to hide the horrors of its actions in Palestine. The Committee to Protect Journalists found that Israel has killed at least 128 media workers since last October.
Throughout the terror and devastation, the US has continued to provide Israel with diplomatic cover and deadly weapons – despite mounting public calls for an arms embargo.
Cover photo: Screenshot/X/Jeremy Loffredo