RAMALLAH: Israeli forces dawn Wednesday detained at least 26 Palestinians in multiple raids across the occupied West Bank, according to security sources and the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission (PAC).
They said that the occupation forced rounded up at least 26 Palestinians, including several former prisoners and a minor, from the West Bank districts of Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Qalqiliya, Tubas, Nablus, Jericho and Jerusalem.
The raids involved brutal beatings of detainees, threats against their families and large-scale destruction of Palestinian houses.
PAC said that the occupation forces have detained scores of Palestinian workers purportedly for entering the 1948 Territories, but their number could not be determined accurately.
It added that over 8,535 Palestinians have been detained since October 7 from their houses and at checkpoints. Such detainees also include those who were forced to turn themselves in and those held as hostages.
As part of the raids, the occupation forces rounded up a Palestinia
n from the al-Bireh city neighbourhood of as-Sharayet and searched his family house, turning it topsy-turvy.
They also rounded up a resident of the Kafe Malek village, east of Ramallah, after stopping him at the entrance of the village.
In the southern West Bank, the occupation forces detained two Palestinians, including a 16-year-old teen, after storming their family house in the Daheisheh refugee camp, south of the city of Bethlehem.
During ensuing confrontations, the gun-toting soldiers fired live ammunition, tear gas canisters and concussion grenades, but without resulting in any casualty.
Also in the southern West Bank, the heavily-armed soldiers detained six residents of al-Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron.
The army barged their way into the Khallet al-Farra area, west of Yatta, and stormed the house of Bassam Nawajaa.
Soldiers broke into the house, assaulted Bassam, conducted a thorough search, and interrogated family members.
The young man sustained various injuries and bruises and was tran
sported to a hospital for treatment.
In the northern West Bank, a convoy of army vehicles stormed the city of Qalqiliya, where the soldiers rounded up two others, and searched the houses of their families, turning them upside down.
In the district of Tubas, Kamal Bani-Odeh, Director of the Palestine Prisoner’s Society (PPS), confirmed that the occupation soldiers manning the intermittently staffed al-Hamra checkpoint near Jericho stopped and detained a resident of the Far’a refugee camp.
In the Jericho district, the heavily armed soldiers showed up at several houses belonging to ‘Alaa Abu Dahouk’s family, muscled inside, conducted thorough searches, detained a family member and destroyed a family’s vehicle.
The occupation forces frequently raid Palestinian houses almost daily across the West Bank on the pretext of searching for ‘wanted’ Palestinians, triggering clashes with residents.
These raids are conducted with no need for a search warrant, whenever and wherever the military chooses in keeping with i
ts sweeping arbitrary powers.
Under Israeli military law army commanders have full executive, legislative and judicial authority over 3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank. Palestinians have no say in how this authority is exercised.
According to the latest figures from Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, there are currently 9,500 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centres, including 200 child prisoners and 80 female prisoners.
This number includes approximately 3,660 Palestinians placed under ‘administrative detention’, which allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable intervals ranging between three and six months based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.
The mass arrest of Palestinians is nothing new. According to a 2017 report by Addameer, over the past 50 years, more than 800,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned or detained by Israel, this figure is now
believed to be closer to 1 million. This means that about 40% of Palestinian men and boys living under military occupation have been deprived of their freedom. Almost every Palestinian family has suffered the imprisonment of a loved one.
Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA