RAMALLAH, Wednesday, December 15, 2021 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Wednesday overnight detained eight Palestinians from various parts of the West Bank, according to local and security sources.

They said that Israeli forces rounded up two Palestinians after ransacking the houses of their families in Biddu and Beit 'Anan towns, northwest of Jerusalem.

Israeli police also detained two residents of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of al-Issawiya from the vicinity of the colonial settlement of the French Hill, as confirmed by the Wadi Hilweh Information Center.

In Bethlehem district, the sources confirmed a predawn raid in Jabal al-Mawalih neighborhood of the southern West Bank city, resulting in the detention of another.

In Salfit district, Israeli forces barged their way into Kafr ad-Dik town, west of the city, where they rounded up another.

They also detained another, a lawyer, after forcibly entering and searching his house in Qarawat Bani Hassan town, northwest of the city.

In the northern West Bank, soldiers re-arrested a former prisoner from Askar refugee camp, east of Nablus.

Soldiers surrounded the former prisoner’s house, blew the door off, muscled with dogs and conducted a thorough search of the house, turning it topsy-turvy.

In Jenin district,  scores of soldiers stormed and provocatively searched the family house of  Munadel Yacoub Infeiat, 26, in Ya‘bad town, southwest of the city.

Infeiat is one of the six Palestinian prisoners who managed to escape from Gilboa Prison in early September through a tunnel in what was described as the most dramatic and unprecedented prison break.

They also forced their way into the family house of another prisoner in Kafr Qud village, west of the city.

Israeli forces frequently raid Palestinian houses almost on a daily basis across the West Bank on the pretext of searching for "wanted" Palestinians, triggering clashes with residents.

These raids, which take place also in areas under the full control of the Palestinian Authority, are conducted with no need for a search warrant, whenever and wherever the military chooses in keeping with its 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.

K.F.