Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA)

The Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA) (Arabic: وكالة الأنباء الفلسطينية) is the official state news agency of the Palestinian Authority and one of its principal public communication arms. WAFA was established following a decision of the Palestinian National Council in extraordinary session in Cairo in April 1972 and formally constituted by a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee decision of 5 June 1972 as an independent body structurally, politically and administratively linked to the PLO Executive Committee. The agency is headquartered in Ramallah, with its official contact address listed as Al-Muqata’a Street, across from the PLO, and publishes content in Arabic, English, French and Hebrew for domestic and international audiences.

Media assets

News agency: Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA), the official Palestinian Authority state news agency, providing daily news, photo, video and wire-service content covering Palestine, Israel and the Middle East in Arabic, English, French and Hebrew

Digital and distribution channels: WAFA’s multilingual websites at wafa.ps, english.wafa.ps, french.wafa.ps and hebrew.wafa.ps; photo and archive services; social-media presence; and online distribution channels operating under Palestinian Authority official-media supervision. WAFA’s Hebrew service was relaunched on 6 January 2022 after a six-year break

Ownership and governance

WAFA operates as the official state news agency of the Palestinian Authority. The agency was originally established following a Palestinian National Council decision in April 1972 and formally constituted by PLO Executive Committee decision on 5 June 1972 as an independent body structurally, politically and administratively linked to the PLO Executive Committee, with the stated mission of countering hostile propaganda and conveying Palestinian national events from an official Palestinian perspective.

The agency’s institutional architecture has since been reshaped under the Palestinian Authority. WAFA’s own institutional history states that, on 20 March 2008, President Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree merging the General/State Information Service and the Palestinian News Agency into one institution called the Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA). A further Presidential Decree No. 6 of 2011 regulated WAFA’s work, functions and administrative organisation. These reforms did not create an arm’s-length public-service news agency: WAFA remains embedded in the official Palestinian media structure and aligned with PA and PLO public-communication priorities.

Current public agency-directory sources, including WAFA’s institutional profile through the Federation of News Agencies of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (UNA-OIC), identify Minister Ahmed Assaf, the General Supervisor of Palestinian Official Media, as Chairman of WAFA’s Board of Directors, and Nawaf Hamed as Director-General. Minister Assaf’s wider official-media role includes oversight of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation and board chairmanships or senior roles across PA official-media institutions. Khuloud Assaf has also been publicly identified as WAFA editor-in-chief in public reporting, including in connection with the 2022 relaunch of WAFA’s Hebrew service.

Source of funding and budget

WAFA is funded through Palestinian Authority official-media funding arrangements. According to SMM-retained expert sources and local journalists and media analysts consulted between December 2023 and April 2024, the agency does not operate on significant independent commercial or advertising revenue and depends on official funding support through PA budget allocations.

No standalone 2025/26 allocation for WAFA was identified in publicly disclosed Palestinian Authority budget documentation reviewed by SMM during the cycle, and no audited public financial reports or annual financial disclosures specific to WAFA’s operations have been made available. The agency’s budgetary size, staff costs and operational expenditures therefore remain opaque to public scrutiny, consistent with the broader pattern across Palestinian Authority official-media institutions.

Editorial independence

WAFA operates under strict state editorial control, with content production designed to reflect and amplify the positions of the Palestinian Authority, the PLO and the official-media structure. According to SMM-retained expert sources and local and international media analysts consulted during prior cycles, the agency functions as a principal communication arm of the PA, with editorial decisions reflecting and amplifying official PA positions and limited space for dissenting views or investigative journalism.

WAFA’s offices have also historically been targeted or raided during Israeli military operations, including the 10 December 2018 Israeli raid on the agency’s Ramallah headquarters, during which Israeli forces fired tear gas inside the building. The 2025/26 cycle did not produce any structural editorial reform for WAFA: no statutory editorial-independence guarantee, internal editorial charter, independent regulatory body or external oversight mechanism monitoring its compliance with journalistic standards was identified.

AI and digital policy

WAFA has not published a public-facing institutional AI governance policy. The main digital and technical modernisation reference points for the agency are its four-language website infrastructure, photo and archive services, social-media presence and online distribution channels operated under Palestinian Authority official-media supervision. No cycle-window AI-tool deployment or generative-AI editorial integration was identified at WAFA during the SMM 2025/26 review, and no public framework governing the use of generative AI or AI-enabled systems in editorial decision-making, verification, newsroom production, archiving, distribution or audience-facing content has been published.

Classification rationale

WAFA remains classified as State-Controlled (SC) for the 2026 cycle. The agency operates under Palestinian Authority official-media authority with Minister Ahmed Assaf as Chairman of the Board and Nawaf Hamed as Director-General per public directory sources, is funded through PA official-media arrangements with no audited disclosure, and has no statutory editorial-independence guarantee or arm’s-length oversight body. The 2025/26 cycle produced no governance, funding or editorial reform sufficient to move WAFA out of the SC category.

June 2026