Palestinian Territories

The Palestinian Territories, comprising the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, operate under a fragmented governance structure that shapes the State Media Monitor’s analytical approach. The Palestinian Authority, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas since 2005 and Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa since 31 March 2024, exercises civil administration over Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of the West Bank, while Hamas has functioned as the de facto governing authority in Gaza since the 2007 Fatah-Hamas split, although its territorial and administrative control has been severely affected by the Gaza war.

The 2025/26 SMM cycle was defined by the 26 April 2025 appointment of Hussein Al-Sheikh as Deputy Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee and Deputy President of the State of Palestine, the fragile October 2025 Gaza ceasefire framework following the 18 March 2025 resumption of major Israeli military operations in Gaza, the recognition of the State of Palestine by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Portugal, France and other states in September 2025, the 1 January 2025 Palestinian Authority order suspending Al Jazeera operations in the West Bank, and the successive killings of senior Hamas leaders including Yahya Sinwar in October 2024, Mohammad Sinwar in May 2025 and Izz al-Din al-Haddad in May 2026.

The Palestinian media environment remained the most dangerous for journalists worldwide during the 2025/26 cycle. In the 2026 World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders ranked Palestine 156th of 180 countries with a score of 32.09, an improvement of seven places from 163rd and a score of 27.41 in 2025. RSF documented more than 220 reporters killed in Gaza by the Israeli army since 7 October 2023, including at least 70 likely killed because of their work, and noted that journalists in Gaza face pressure from Hamas and Islamic Jihad alongside extreme conflict-related risks. The Palestinian Authority’s cybercrime law, adopted by President Mahmoud Abbas in July 2017, continued to limit freedom of expression and freedom of the press, and PA- and Fatah-affiliated outlets remained subject to direct political control. The territorial fragmentation between Hamas-controlled areas of Gaza and Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of the West Bank produced parallel media architectures aligned with each authority, with cross-territorial distribution constrained by political alignment, war damage and infrastructure destruction.

The State Media Monitor’s 2026 review identifies five Palestinian Territories outlets across the dual-authority structure. Three Palestinian Authority-affiliated outlets, the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), the daily newspaper Al-Hayat al-Jadida and the Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA), operate under direct PA executive and official-media supervision through Minister Ahmad Assaf as General Supervisor of Palestinian Official Media and chair of multiple PA media boards. These outlets are classified as State-Controlled (SC) given direct PA appointment or supervision of leadership, funding through PA official-media budget arrangements and the absence of statutory editorial-independence safeguards.

The Hamas-operated Al-Aqsa TV, formally linked to Al-Ribat Communications and Artistic Productions, is classified as Captured Public (CaPu), reflecting Hamas’s role as a de facto governing authority operating the broadcaster directly while lacking the internationally recognised state status of the Palestinian Authority. The Hamas-aligned Felesteen daily newspaper, published by the private Al-Wasat Media and Publishing Company, is classified as Captured Private (CaPr), reflecting the political capture of a formally private entity by Hamas’s political and ideological objectives. No SMM-tracked Palestinian Territories outlet underwent a classification change during the 2025/26 cycle.

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