RAMALLAH, October 24, 2026 (WAFA) — The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) said Israeli forces are continuing their offensive across the occupied West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, which has never truly stopped since the genocidal war. Instead, its pace and methods have intensified with every development on the ground, through expanded detentions, raids and abuse of Palestinians.
In a statement, the PPS affirmed that Israeli authorities announced the launch of a large-scale military assault concentrated on the Hebron Governorate on Friday, following the announcement of an operation there.
According to the society’s monitoring and documentation, around 70 detentions took place across various West Bank governorates between Friday and the early hours of Saturday. Some detainees have since been released, while detentions and field interrogations involving hundreds of Palestinians continue.
The PPS confirmed that most of those detained are former prisoners who spent years in Israeli jails. A large proportion of those subjected to field interrogations are also former prisoners, including people released under prisoner exchange deals. This reflects a policy of widening the scope of persecution to include released prisoners, their families and their social circles, turning a previous arrest into a lasting “stigma” that follows individuals even after they have served their sentences.
It also added that raids had targeted hundreds of homes in Hebron, accompanied by the forced displacement of residents from specific areas of the city. Dozens of homes were turned into military barracks used as field interrogation centers, while homes and their contents were subjected to vandalism, destruction and searches.
It noted that raids and detentions were not confined to Hebron but extended to several governorates, particularly targeting the homes of former and released prisoners and the families of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces. These included a raid on the home of released prisoner Nael Barghouti in the town of Kobar, near Ramallah, where extensive vandalism and destruction were reported. Homes of other released prisoners were also targeted, and arrests were recorded in Qalqilya, Jenin, Nablus, Jericho, Salfit, Tubas, Bethlehem, Tulkarem and Jerusalem.
The PPS pointed out that most detainees who were subsequently released had been subjected to varying degrees of assault, as well as being shackled, blindfolded, threatened and intimidated, particularly those with previous arrest records.
These practices also included warnings against engaging in any political or organizational activity, while leaflets containing threats were distributed in several West Bank towns. This indicates that the objective goes beyond arrest itself to intimidating society and restricting people’s rights to freedom of expression and public participation.
It further stressed that Israeli forces use every operation targeting their soldiers as a pretext to escalate retaliatory policies against Palestinians, ranging from expanded arrests and raids to home demolitions, forced displacement, and further restrictions and sieges. These policies form part of an entrenched approach that operates alongside the system of military checkpoints and iron gates, including the so-called “yellow gates,” whose impact has intensified since the genocidal war, tightening restrictions on entrances to towns and governorates and on Palestinians’ movement.
It emphasized that these practices cannot be treated as temporary measures or short-lived consequences of an incident on the ground. Rather, they fall within a policy of collective punishment and are carried out amid an absence of accountability, encouraging their continuation and expansion as part of the apartheid system in the West Bank and an extension of the ongoing crime of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The PPS noted that more than 26,000 arrests have been recorded in the West Bank since the onset of the genocidal war, in addition to thousands in Gaza. Tens of thousands of Palestinians across the various Palestinian territories have also been subjected to extensive and ongoing field interrogations, affecting all segments of Palestinian society.
It urged families of detainees to contact the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society once 24 hours have passed since a family member’s arrest, so they can follow up on the case legally, obtain any available information about the detainee and seek to reassure the family.
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