Israeli forces arrest 56 Palestinians in Jerusalem and West Bank

Israeli forces arrested 56 Palestinians last night as part of a wide-reaching arrest campaign in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank cities.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club (PPC) said that 20 of the Palestinians arrested are university students.

Reporting eyewitnesses the PPC said that 20 Israeli military vehicles rolled into the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Al-Issawiyeh at 3.30am, raided houses and arrested 20 Palestinians.

Relatives of the arrested Palestinians reported that Israeli forces damaged furniture during the raids.

Israeli forces also raided the West Bank city of Nablus and arrested three Palestinian youths, in addition to the freed Palestinian prisoner Majdi Al-Qutob.

Read: UNRWA calls on US not to politicise its aid to Palestine refugees

 In Al-Duheisha Refugee Camp in Bethlehem they arrested Hamas leader Karim Ayyad, in addition to a Palestinian youth.

Local sources told Safa News Agency that Abdel-Kader Hammad, who spent 11 years inside Israeli jails, was arrested and so was senior Hamas leader Ibrahim Jaber, 55, from Jenin.

The sources reported other arrests took place in Barqin and other West Bank cities and villages.

In the wake of Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital on 6 December 2017 the Palestinian Authority claimed it suspended all contact with Israel.

However, this campaign came two days after the leader of the Israeli opposition Zahava Gal-On revealed that PA President Mahmoud Abbas phoned her and stressed that security cooperation with Israel “is continuous”.