Israeli army detains American journalist documenting illegal settlers' march in West Bank: Rights group

American journalist Eric Maddox was detained by the Israeli army after getting beaten by illegal settlers in southern West Bank, a rights group official said.

"The Israeli army arrested an American journalist, activist, and podcaster, Eric Maddox, while he was filming settlers' violations in Hebron," Issa Amro, founder of Youth Against Settlements, told Anadolu on Saturday evening.

The Californian activist was shooting "a provocative march" organized by dozens of illegal Israeli settlers in the Old City of Hebron before he was assaulted by the settlers and later detained.

Videos circulating on social media, also shared by the Quds News Network, showed Maddox surrounded by Israeli soldiers handcuffing and detaining him.

"The (Israeli) occupation doesn't want the documentation and disclosure of what's happening in Hebron to the world," Amro added.

Settlers attacks as well as raids by Israeli forces have intensified in the occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023. Since then, at least 968 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the attacks, according to official Palestinian figures.

Last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land illegal, and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.