15 Palestinians arrested in Gaza within a month

A Palestinian expert on prisoners’ affairs announced on Friday that Israel has arrested 15 Palestinians within the last month in the Gaza Strip.

This came in a statement made by Head of the Studies and Documentation Department at the Palestinian Prisoners‘ Affairs Authority Abdul–Nasser Farwana to Anadolu Agency.

Farwana explained that:

The occupation authorities arrested 14 Palestinians while they were crossing the Gaza Strip borders into the occupied territories, while a cancer patient was also arrested at the Erez Crossing, in the northern Gaza Strip, last September.

He continued: “The number of arrests have significantly increased in September compared to August, during which only one arrest occurred in Gaza.”

Farwana added: “Most of the detainees were allowed to return to the Gaza Strip after being interrogated for a few hours.”

The Israeli forces prohibited Palestinians in Gaza from entering the so-called buffer zone, while arresting or shooting anyone who approached the area.

Earlier on Friday, the Israeli army arrested Hamas leader Hassan Yousef in his home in Ramallah, two months after his release, in an escalation that Hamas and Fatah strongly condemned.

Israel is currently holding around 5,000 Palestinians in its prisons, including 43 women and 180 children, while keeping 340 under administrative detention. Additionally, 700 detainees of poor health are also being held in Israeli jails, according to data from the Prisoners and Executives Affairs Authority.