Israeli forces Tuesday overnight detained 32 Palestinians in large-scale raids cross the West Bank, according to local and security sources.
They said that heavily-armed Israeli soldiers rounded up 21 Palestinians after breaking into and ransacking their houses in al-Am‘ari refugee camp, south of the central West Bank city of Ramallah.
While in the camp, the soldiers assaulted a young man with dogs, inflicting injuries across his body.
In the northern West Bank, the sources confirmed a raid in Qalqiliya city, resulting in the detention of another.
In Jerusalem, gun-toting soldiers rounded up a resident of Qatanna town, northwest of the city, and thoroughly searched his house, turning it topsy-turvy.
In the southern West Bank, military vehicles stormed Tuqu‘ town, east of Bethlehem, where the soldiers rounded up eight others after muscling in and searching their houses.
In Hebron district, the soldiers conducted a similar raid in Sa‘ir town, north of the city, resulting in the detention of 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.
Source: Palestinian News & Information Agency