PA security forces arrest 5 journalists in West Bank

Security forces of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) detained five journalists late Tuesday in Israel-occupied West Bank for "security charges", according to a local NGO.

The five journalists were rounded up from their homes in the cities of Hebron, Bethlehem and Nablus, the Islamic Radio and Television Union said in a statement.

Security forces searched the houses and confiscated the journalists' mobiles and computers, the statement said.

The journalists include two reporters of Hamas-affiliated Shehab news agency and al-Aqsa channel, while the three others work for Al-Quds satellite channel.

"The arrests are an attack against freedom of speech and repression of the press freedom," the Union said, going on to call for the immediate release of the reporters.

"Journalists should be kept away from the state of division in the Palestinian case," it said.

A Palestinian security official told the official Wafa news agency that the journalists were arrested for "leaking sensitive information to a hostile side".