RAMALLAH, Israeli forces predawn Thursday detained 10 Palestinians from various parts of the occupied West Bank, according to local and security sources.
They said that Israeli forces re-arrested a former prisoner and ransacked his family house in Kobar town, north of the city of Ramallah.
Meanwhile, heavily-armed police rounded two others from Jerusalem; one from Issawiyeh neighborhood and the other from Silwan neighborhood.
Earlier, hostile armed police barged their way into the East Jerusalem neighborhood of At-Tur, and blatantly harassed residents, triggering confrontations.
During the confrontations, police fired volleys of stun grenades and tear gas canisters at local youths. No injuries were reported though.
In the southern West Bank, a convoy of army vehicles stormed Dura city, south of Hebron, where the soldiers detained three others.
They also conducted a similar raid in Deir Samet village, southwest of the city, resulting in the detention of another.
In the northern West Bank, the soldiers showed up at a house in Beit Furik town, east of Nablus, muscled inside, conducted a thorough search and eventually re-arrested a former prisoner.
They also sabotaged a bus parked nearby that the former prisoner uses to transport children to a local kindergarten.
The sources confirmed a raid in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, resulting in 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 190 children and 30 female prisoners.
This number includes approximately 800 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