Tulkarm: Israeli occupation forces on Wednesday detained a Palestinian youth from the town of Qiffin, north of the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm, according to local sources. The gun-toting soldiers manning the 'Anabta/'Einav checkpoint at the eastern entrance of Anabta town, east of Tulkarm City, stopped and rounded up a young man.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, in the predawn and morning hours today, the occupation forces detained 12 Palestinians in multiple raids across the occupied West Bank. In the Hebron governorate, Israeli troops detained a Palestinian who sought protection from violence committed by Israeli colonists after the latter chopped down his olive trees in Susiya village, east of Yatta. The forces also rounded up four others, including two brothers, and searched their houses in Southern Hebron City.
At the entrance of Bani Na'im town, east of Hebron City, two brothers were detained as soldiers ransacked several houses in As-Samu' town and interrogated their occupants. Additionally, a raid in Nablus City led to the detention of a Palestinian. In the Jenin governorate, the occupation forces entered Meithalun, conducted searches in several houses, and detained two youths. A similar raid in Anza village resulted in the detention of two more individuals.
The occupation forces frequently conduct raids on Palestinian houses almost daily across the West Bank under the pretext of searching for 'wanted' Palestinians, often leading to clashes with residents. These operations are carried out without search warrants, as the military exercises sweeping arbitrary powers.
Under Israeli military law, army commanders possess full executive, legislative, and judicial authority over 3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank. Palestinians have no input in how this authority is wielded. According to the latest figures from Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, there are currently 10,100 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 400 child prisoners and 35 female prisoners.
This number includes approximately 3,577 Palestinians held under 'administrative detention', which permits detention without charge or trial for renewable intervals ranging from three to six months, based on undisclosed evidence inaccessible to even a detainee's lawyer. The mass arrest of Palestinians is a longstanding issue. A 2017 report by Addameer indicated that over the past 50 years, more than 800,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned or detained by Israel; the figure is now believed to be closer to 1 million. This statistic means that about 40% of Palestinian men and boys living under military occupation have been deprived of their freedom, with almost every Palestinian family having suffered the imprisonment of a loved one.