HEBRON, Tuesday, May 28, 2024 (WAFA) – Israeli occupation forces today detained a Palestinian from the city of Yatta in the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron, according to local sources.
They said that Israeli soldiers showed up at a house in the city, muscled inside, conducted a thorough search and eventually detained an occupant.
Meanwhile, soldiers manning a checkpoint at the Jaber neighborhood of the Old City of Hebron briefly held a woman.
In the predawn hours today, the occupation forces detained 22 Palestinians, including a child and former detainees.
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 9,300 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centres, including 250 child prisoners and 78 female prisoners.
This number includes approximately 3,424 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.
