RAMALLAH, Israeli forces Tuesday overnight detained 16 Palestinians from various parts of the occupied West Bank, according to local and security sources.
They said that Israeli forces rounded up seven Palestinians, including former prisoners, in multiple raids across the northern West Bank district of Tulkarm.
One of the seven detainees was identified as a 62-year-old former prisoner from Zeita town, northeast of Tulkarm, two others as residents of the nearby town of Deir al-Ghusun, three others, including two former prisoners, as residents of the nearby town of Attil, in addition to a former prisoner from Seida town.
In Nablus district, the gun-toting soldiers showed up at a house in Huwara town, south of the city, muscled inside, conducted a search, and eventually detained a resident.
Meanwhile, the sources confirmed a raid in Tubas district, leading to the detention of another.
The soldiers conducted a similar raid in Qalqiliya city, resulting in the detention of three others.
Still in the district, a convoy of military vehicles stormed Ras al-Far’a town, south of the city, forcibly entered the houses of two brothers, interrogated some of the occupants, including a former prisoner, and conducted a thorough search, turning the houses topsy-turvy.
Also in the northern West Bank, the heavily-armed soldiers barged their way into Jenin city, broke into several houses, woke up and briefly held the occupants, and used the houses and their rooftops as observation points.
They also went inside the family house of a former prisoner in al-Almaniya neighborhood, held the residents for almost two hours, and ransacked the house, turning it upside down and inflicting intentional damage to it.
In Jerusalem, police rounded up three minors from Silwan neighborhood after they performed the dawn prayer in a mosque in the town.
In the southern West Bank, soldiers manning a checkpoint close to the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Old City of Hebron stopped and detained a resident.
They also ransacked the family houses of a former prisoner in Beit Ummar town, north of the city, in addition to several houses belonging to al-Hroub family in Deir Samet town, west of the city.
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 4,450 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 175 children and 27 female prisoners.
This number includes 670 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