HEBRON, July 2, 2016 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Saturday detained three Palestinians from Hebron and Jerusalem districts as the southern West Bank district of Hebron remained under blockade for the second consecutive day.
Forces detained Nabil and Ahmad E‘mer after storming and ransacking their family houses in Yatta town, south of Hebron.
In Jerusalem district, forces detained Bara’ Shahham, 19, during a predawn raid that sparked clashes with Palestinian locals in Qalandiya refugee camp, north of Jerusalem.
WAFA correspondent said violent clashes erupted as Israeli troops raided Qalandiya and the neighboring village of Kafr Aqab. No injuries were reported though.
These detentions came as Israel imposed a complete blockade on the southern West Bank district of Hebron for the second consecutive day, affecting some 700,000 Palestinians following a spike of deadly attacks over the past two days.
Israeli forces locked gates and set up barriers blocking access routes to many villages and towns in the southern West Bank district, including Deir Razih, Karma, Beit Amra, al-Fawwar refugee camp, al-Harayeq, Zeif, Beit Anun and Bani Na‘im.
Forces also raided Adh-Dhahiriya, Yatta and Sa‘ir towns, breaking into and ransacking many houses, stores and seizing surveillance camera recordings.
Troops closed all exit routes from Hebron city except for the northern one through the town of Halhul towards Jerusalem, according to AFP correspondent as two additional units were deployed at the city.
The closure has been described by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz as the largest since a massive crackdown following the alleged kidnapping and killing of three Israeli youth settlers in June 2014.
The closure, approved by the Israeli government as part of a series of larger reprisals, affects only Palestinians and not Israeli settlers in settlements across Hebron district, an Israeli army spokesperson reportedly told media.
The developments came on the heels of a drive-by shooting attack that left and Israeli settler killed, his wife critically injured and his two children lightly-to-moderately injured while driving in their car near the Hebron village of As-Samou. It also came after the killing of a Palestinian pregnant woman by Israeli forces in the vicinity of the Ibrahim Mosque in Hebron’s Old City following an alleged stabbing attempt.
In the aftermath of the shooting attack, forces imposed a complete lockdown Ban Naim, the hometown of the suspected Palestinian attacker as well as 19-year-old Muhammad Tarayra, who was killed on Thursday after stabbing to death 13-year-old setter in Kirat Arba settlement.
Tarayra, Electronic Intifada reported, was motivated by the death of his cousin Yusif, 18, who was shot dead during an alleged car ramming attack shortly after two other youths were slain during a shootout with Israeli soldiers waiting at a bus station near the Kiryat Arba settlement in March.
Israel’s punitive measures against the attacks, including punitive house demolitions, sealing entire villages and towns, detention raids and withholding the bodies of Palestinians killed during alleged or actual attacks, have been slammed by human rights organizations as “collective punishment” and a violation of international law.
K.F.
