Israel arrests more Palestinians in occupied West Bank and Jerusalem

The Israeli occupation authorities carried out a number of dawn arrests on Monday as part of a major campaign against the Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, local sources have revealed.

It was claimed that the targets of the campaign were mainly activists from Fatah following their peaceful protest on Sunday against the arrest of Adnan Gheith, an official of the secular movement in Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, the Israelis also arrested Palestinian journalist Ahmed Al-Khatib in a raid on his house in the neighbourhood of Bitonya near the West Bank city of Ramallah. Al-Khatib has been summoned several times previously by the occupation forces and the Palestinian Authority security services.

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Altogether, it is believed that the Israelis have arrested a total of 32 more Palestinians in the past few hours. A Palestinian girl was among those detained. Ayat Ibrahim, 17, is from the Beit Liqya neighbourhood, also in Ramallah.

Rights groups say that there are more than 5,500 Palestinians being held in Israeli jails, including 57 women and 350 children. More than 400 are held under administrative detention with neither charge nor trial, and more than 400 continue to suffer from chronic diseases.