RAMALLAH, Saturday, May 11, 2024 (WAFA) – Israeli occupation forces Friday evening and predawn Saturday detained 15 Palestinians from various parts of the occupied West Bank, according to the Prisoners’ Affairs Committee and the Palestine Prisoner’s Society.
They said that the occupation forces conducted multiple raids in the West Bank districts of Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron, Qalqiliya and Jerusalem, and rounded up 15 Palestinians, including a woman who was abducted as a hostage and several former prisoners.
They added that as part of the raids, the occupation forces usually practice torture, brutal beating, destruction of Palestinian property and infrastructure, and confiscation of cash savings and vehicles on a large scale.
According to their statistics, approximately 8,680 Palestinians have been detained since October 7, and they include those rounded up in house raids, at army checkpoints in addition to those who were forced to turn themselves in and those held as hostages.
As part of the raids, the heavily armed soldiers rounded up two youths from the village of Jalbun, east of Jenin, and searched the houses of their families.
The soldiers rounded up two others; one from the Jenin city neighbourhood of al-Almaniya and the other from the village of Faqqu'a, northeast of the city, and ransacked the houses of their families, turning them upside down.
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 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 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.
K.F.
