Israeli forces Thursday overnight detained 13 Palestinians from various parts of the West Bank, according to local and security sources.
They said that Israeli forces rounded up a Palestinian after storming his family house in Beitin village, east of the city of Ramallah.
The soldiers also detained another after breaking into and ransacking his family house in al-Mazra‘a al-Sharqiya town, northeast of the city.
Meanwhile, hostile armed Israeli police rounded up six others from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of al-Issawiya.
A sizable police force closed all the entrances to al-Issawiya and smashed the windshields of some of the vehicles there as a helicopter flew above, surveilling each move of the neighborhood’s residents.
They brutally assaulted at least one resident, leading him to be rushed to a hospital.
In the northern West Bank, the sources confirmed a raid into Tell town, west of the city of Nablus, resulting in the detention of another.
In Tubas district, gun-toting soldiers showed up at two houses in Tammoun town, south of the city, muscled inside, conducted a thorough search and eventually detained two others.
In Tulkarm district, the soldiers barged their way into Nur Shams refugee camp and rounded up another.
The sources confirmed that a former prisoner was rounded up from the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm.
Similar raid were reported in Shufa village, northeast of the city, and Ramin town, east of the city, where soldiers forcibly entered and ransacked several houses, turning them upside down.
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.
This number includes approximately 530 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: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)