SINJIL, WEST BANK: July 11, 2026 – A CNN news crew and other journalists were reportedly attacked and pursued in an attempt to murder, by Israeli settlers near the Palestinian village of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, in a frightening confrontation captured on video from inside the journalists’ vehicles.
The dramatic footage, lasting nearly three minutes, shows journalists wearing press vests attempting to leave the area as vehicles follow them along winding, hilly roads. Inside the cars, crew members can be heard reacting with mounting alarm as they realise they are being followed and chased.
According to reports, the journalists had been working in the area when a group of Israeli settlers allegedly blocked their route and approached them aggressively. The attackers were reportedly armed with rods, stones and other objects.
One journalist’s vehicle was allegedly surrounded and attacked, with a person reportedly jumping onto it and smashing its windshield. CNN’s vehicle was also targeted, with one attacker reportedly attempting to damage or slash its tyres with a knife.
The journalists then fled toward Sinjil as the confrontation turned into a tense pursuit.
A social-media post sharing the footage described the incident in highly charged terms, claiming that settlers had “hunted down” the CNN crew “in an attempt to murder them.” While the video and news reports document a serious and potentially dangerous attack, credible reporting has described the incident as an assault and pursuit rather than confirming a premeditated attempted murder.
Israeli authorities reportedly detained four settlers suspected of involvement in the attack, while weapons were said to have been recovered. An investigation was launched following the incident.
Security forces eventually intervened, and the journalists were reportedly evacuated safely.
The attack has once again raised urgent concerns over the safety of journalists covering events in the occupied West Bank, where reporters often work amid rapidly escalating confrontations and an increasingly volatile security environment.
The journalists were clearly identifiable as members of the press, yet the cameras did not protect them nor the press vests did not protect them.
And for several terrifying minutes on the roads near Sinjil, the people documenting the violence found themselves caught inside it.
The incident comes amid continuing international concern over violence in the West Bank, including attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and incidents involving Palestinian attacks against Israelis.
But whatever the wider political context, journalists must be allowed to report without being assaulted, threatened or chased from the scene.
The footage from Sinjil offers a disturbing glimpse of what happens when those carrying cameras and notebooks suddenly realise that they are no longer merely recording the story.
They have become the story.
JANPATH NEWS NETWORK (JNN)
Independent. Fearless. On the People’s Path.
