Palestine journalist among those arrested by Israel in West Bank raids

The Israeli Occupation Forces detained a Palestinian journalist this morning, along with 17 Palestinians, during a military raid across the Occupied West Bank.

According to the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS), the Israeli forces arrested Sabri Jibril, 35, after raiding and searching his home in the town of Tuquo, based south-east of the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem.

His arrest comes a few days after he was held and interrogated at an Israeli army checkpoint during his return from an event in support of prisoners.

The soldiers at the checkpoint had also confiscated his phone and press card, added PPS.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said that the Israeli Occupation has committed 513 violations against Palestinians journalists so far this year, including the killing of Al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh and her media colleague, Ghofran Warasneh.

Meanwhile, six Palestinians from the Jerusalem governorate, including five from the town of Hizma, based east of Jerusalem, were detained by Israel soldiers during overnight raids at their homes.

Israeli forces raid Palestinian homes on an almost daily basis across the Occupied West Bank on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians, triggering protests with residents.

In the Ramallah area, soldiers raided the Umm Al-Sharayet neighbourhood of Al-Bireh city and detained a former prisoner after breaking into and searching his home.

Moreover, soldiers detained two Palestinians from the northern West Bank city of Qalqilya.

The mass arrest of Palestinians is nothing new. According to a 2017 report by Addameer, over the past 50 years more than 800,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned or detained by Israel. This figure is now believed to be closer to one million.

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