RAMALLAH, Thursday, October 20, 2022 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Thursday detained seven Palestinians, mostly in overnight raids across the southern West Bank, according to security sources.
The sources said that Israeli forces rounded up a Palestinian and ransacked his family house in Bethlehem city, turning it upside down.
Meanwhile, the gun-toting soldiers rounded up another from the Hebron city neighborhood of Abu Ktaila.
They barged their way into Sa‘ir town, northeast of the city, muscled inside several houses, conducted thorough searches and eventually detained three others, including two teen brothers.
Later in the day, the soldiers rounded up another in the course of confrontations in the vicinity of the Hebron city neighborhood of Bab Az-Zawiya.
In Jerusalem, violent armed police detained a 12-year-old boy after breaking into his parents’ house in al-Issawiya neighborhood.
On Wednesday evening, the sources confirmed that three others were detained from various parts of the West Bank.
Soldiers manning al-Hamra checkpoint in the northern Jordan Valley stopped and detained a young man from az-Zubaidat village, north of Jericho.
Soldiers manning Za'tara checkpoint, south of Nablus, stopped and detained a resident of the eastern neighborhood of Jenin city.
The other, a 13-year-old boy, was detained as he was playing with his friends in the alleyways of Aida refugee camp, north of Bethlehem.
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.
According to the latest figures from Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, there are currently 4,700 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 400 children and 30 female prisoners.
This number includes approximately 800 Palestinians placed under “administrative detention”, that 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.
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.
K.F.
