RAMALLAH, Israeli forces Monday overnight detained 27 Palestinians in large-scale raids across the occupied West Bank, according to local and security sources.
Director of the Palestine Prisoner’s Society (PPS) Office in Jericho, Eid Barahma, said that Israeli forces rounded up 10 Palestinians and ransacked property in multiple raids across Jericho district.
As part of these raids, Israeli soldiers rounded up a Palestinian from Aqabat Jaber refugee camp, southwest of Jericho city.
They also rounded up four others, including a former prisoner, after breaking into and searching the houses of their families in the city.
While in the city, gun-toting soldiers appeared at a house and muscled in to detain the homeowner’s son, triggering confrontations.
The soldiers fired intense tear gas canisters in the area surrounding the house, causing the 65-year-old homeowner to suffocate and require hospitalization. They also smashed the windshields of a woman’s vehicle parked nearby.
The other five detainees were identified as three from Ein as-Sultan refugee camp, west of the city, and two others from al-Jiftlik village, north of the city.
In Ramallah district, the soldiers conducted a predawn raid in Jalazone refugee camp, north of the city, resulting in the detention of two others.
They also forced their way into Shuqba village, west of the city, where they detained four others.
In Jerusalem district, special forces rounded up two others after snatching them from their vehicle and brutally beating them in Qatanna town, northwest of the city.
The sources added that another was rounded up in a similar raid in the nearby village of Beit ‘Anan.
In the southern West Bank, two others were rounded up in separate two raids in Beit Fajjar town and Marah Rabah village, south of Bethlehem.
The military vehicles stormed Ad-Doha town, west of the city, where the soldiers forcibly entered a resident’s house interrogated him before releasing him.
In Hebron district, the soldiers forced their way into Deir Sammit town, west of the southern West Bank city, where they rounded up another and searched his house, turning it upside down.
In the northern West Bank, a sizable military force detained two others, both 18, and thoroughly searched several houses in Qarawat Bani Hassan town, northwest of the city.
During the raid, the soldiers briefly held four others, but released them after a few hours of interrogation.
Also at dawn, the soldiers forcibly entered and ransacked the students dormitory of the Arab American University (AAUP) in Jenin city, and detained three students.
One of the students was identified as a resident of Anza village, south of the northern West Bank city, and another as a resident of Nazareth 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.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency