RAMALLAH, Saturday, August 24, 2024 (WAFA) – Israeli occupation forces today detained ten Palestinians from various parts of the occupied West Bank, according to security and local sources.
They said that the occupation forces physically assaulted a girl in the vicinity of Bab as-Sahira in the occupied city of Jerusalem, prompting a young man to intervene to defend her.
The soldiers assaulted the young man before detaining him together with two girls.
In the Salfit governorate, the occupation forces rounded up a Palestinian from the az-Zawiya town.
In the Tulkarm governorate, the occupation forces showed up at a house in the Deir al-Ghusun town, broke inside, conducted a thorough search and eventually detained a resident.
In the Nablus governorate, a convoy of military vehicles stormed Tell village, where the gun-toting soldiers detained a villager and ransacked his house, turning it upside down.
In the predawn hours of today, the occupation forces barged their way into the city of Nablus, deploying in the city neighbourhoods and streets, firing live ammunition and concussion grenades, and rea-arresting a former prisoner.
The soldiers conducted a similar raid in Beit Iba, a town to the west of Nablus, resulting in re-arresting a former prisoner.
In the Jenin governorate, the heavily armed soldiers manning Checkpoint 17, which leads from ‘Asirah a-Shamaliyah, Zawata and other villages to Nablus, stopped and detained two Palestinians; a former prisoner and a resident of the Burqin town.
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 9,900 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centres, including 250 child prisoners and 86 female prisoners.
This number includes approximately 3,423 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.
