Israeli forces predawn Monday detained 16 Palestinians from various parts of the occupied West Bank, according to local and security sources.
They said that Israeli forces rounded up a Palestinian and ransacked his family house in Jalazone refugee camp, north of the city of Ramallah.
The gun-toting soldiers rounded up three others close to the central West Bank city of Rawabi, north of Ramallah.
In the southern West Bank, the sources confirmed a raid in Dheisheh refugee camp, south of the city of Bethlehem, resulting in the detention of another.
A convoy of army vehicles stormed Aida refugee camp, north of the city, where the soldiers detained two others, including a 13-year-old minor.
Elsewhere in the southern West Bank, the heavily-armed soldiers showed up at a house in Kharsa village, south of Hebron city, broke inside and rounded up another.
They detained two others in separate two raids in Dura city and Idhna town, southwest and west of Hebron, and ransacked their houses, turning them upside down.
In the Jordan Valley, the soldiers forcibly entered the family house of a former prisoner in Jericho city and re-arrested him. The prisoner spent 21 months in Israeli imprisonment before being released in 2017.
In the northern West Bank, a sizable army force barged its way into Nablus city, where the soldiers detained another.
The soldiers manning a checkpoint close to Ya‘bad town, west of Jenin, stopped and re-arrested a former prisoner from the nearby town of Burqin.
They also showed up at a house in the Jenin city neighborhood of Marah Sa‘ed, muscled inside, conducted a thorough search, assaulted the occupants and eventually detained another.
The father suffered cuts and bruises in the head as a result of the attack.
While in the city, the soldiers destroyed a Palestinian vehicle and set a motorcycle on fire.
Elsewhere in the northern West Bank, the sources confirmed a raid in Nur Shamas refugee camp, east of Tulkarm, leading to the detention of two others.
Israeli forces frequently raid Palestinian houses almost on a daily basis across the West Bank on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians, triggering clashes with residents.
These raids, which take place also in areas under the full control of the Palestinian Authority, 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 4,700 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 150 children and 34 female prisoners.
This number includes approximately 835 Palestinians placed under “administrative detention”, that 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.
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.
Source: Palestine News & Info Agency