RAMALLAH, Friday, February 10, 2023 (WAFA) – Israeli forces dawn Friday shot a Palestinian and detained four others from the occupied West Bank, according to local and security sources.
Israeli forces showed up at a house in Beit Rima town, northwest of the city of Ramallah, broke inside, conducted a thorough search and eventually detained a young man.
In the northern West Bank, a sizable army force barged its way into the northern West Bank city of Jenin to provide cover to an undercover force that sneaked its way into the city earlier, with snipers seizing positions on the rooftops of houses.
During the ensuing confrontations, the snipers shot a youth by a live round in the thigh. The casualty was rushed to a hospital for urgent treatment.
The soldiers forcibly entered a house in the city and rounded up another.
In Nablus district, the gun-toting soldiers surrounded two houses in Kafr Qallil village, south of the city, conducted a thorough searched and detained two others.
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 150 children and 34 female prisoners.
This number includes approximately 835 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.
