TULKARM, May 29, 2025 (WAFA) – Israeli occupation forces on Wednesday night detained five Palestinians from the town of Zeita, north of the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm, according to WAFA correspondent.
She reported that the occupying forces barged their way into the town, deploying large reinforcements, setting up checkpoints on several streets and the main entrance, and obstructing people’s movement.
She added that the gun-toting soldiers conducted house-to-house raids, ransacking them, checking occupants’ ID cards, and interrogating them.
The soldiers took over several houses belonging to the al-Jad‘aa and Meri‘i families, and turned their rooftops into sniping and observation posts.
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 without the 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 10,100 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 400 child prisoners and 35 female prisoners.
This number includes approximately 3,577 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.
