Israeli forces predawn Thursday detained 20 Palestinians from various parts of the occupied West Bank, according to local and security sources.
They said that Israeli forces rounded up 15 Palestinians and ransacked the houses of their families in Qalandiya refugee camp, north of Jerusalem.
Among the detainees were five former prisoners, a minor in addition to the son of Samir Aslan, who was killed by the gun-toting soldiers in the course of the raid.
In the southern West Bank, a convoy of army vehicles stormed Dheisha refugee camp, south of Bethlehem, where the soldiers detained two brothers.
The soldiers conducted a similar raid in Ad-Doha town, west of the city, resulting in the detention of another.
The sources confirmed a raid in al-Baqa’a village, east of the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron, leading to the detention of a 17-year-old girl.
The girl was brutally assaulted by Israeli troops as a bulldozer knocked down two houses belonging to her family a day earlier, on Wednesday.
In the northern West Bank, the heavily-armed soldiers showed up at a house in Qalqiliya city, muscled inside, conducted a thorough search and eventually detained another.
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 and Information Agency