NABLUS, Wednesday, March 01, 2023 (WAFA) – Israeli forces predawn Wednesday and Tuesday evening detained at least eight Palestinians from various parts of the occupied West Bank, according to local and security sources.
They said that Israeli forces rounded up a Palestinian, searched several houses and seized ILS 9,700 (approx. USD $2,700) and a mobile phone from Qusra town, east of Nablus city.
The gun-toting soldiers showed up at a house in the northern West Bank city of Qalqiliya, broke inside, conducted a thorough search and eventually detained another.
In Jericho district, the soldiers barged their way into Marj al-Ghazal village, north of the city, stopped a vehicles and detained two passengers who were aboard it.
In Jerusalem, the heavily-armed police raided Issawiyeh, a congested neighborhood of over 20,000 Palestinians, broke into and tampering with the contents of several houses, and eventually rounding up three others.
Police also assaulted and detained a teenage aboard the light rail in the occupied city.
This came as the Israeli military continued to besiege the city for the third day in a row, setting up checkpoints at the city entrances, preventing people from leaving it and blocking the only land crossing for Palestinians seeking to travel to Jordan.
The besiege has been in place since a Palestinian gunman gunned down an Israeli-American, who has served in the Israeli army for several years, in a drive-by shooting at an illegal colonial settlement near Jericho.
The drive-by shooting came in retaliation to Sunday’s settler pogrom in Huwwara town, south of Nablus.
On Sunday night, hundreds of settlers attacked Palestinian villages and towns in the northern West Bank, setting Huwwara town ablaze after two settler brothers were shot dead in the town, the epicenter of the vigilante mob’s violent rage.
At least one Palestinian was killed and nearly 400 wounded in hours-long rampage on Huwwara and other attacks on West Bank towns and villages, Palestinian health officials said. Settlers completely burnt down at least 35 homes and 40 others were partially damaged, and many of the buildings were set on fire while their Palestinian inhabitants sheltered inside. More than 100 cars were burnt or otherwise destroyed.
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.
