Israel occupation forces arrest 30 Palestinians, including a child, in West Bank raids

The Israel occupation forces have arrested 30 Palestinians, including a child and former detainees, during multiple raids across the occupied West Bank in the past 24 hours, Wafa news agency has reported.

In a joint statement, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) and the Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs Commission revealed that since the escalation of Israeli aggression on 7 October, 2023, more than 11,000 Palestinians have been detained. These arrests have affected all sectors of Palestinian society, they added. Numerous Palestinian workers and thousands of Palestinians from Gaza are the victims of enforced disappearances.

Moreover, the organisations highlighted that the ongoing detention campaigns have been marked by extrajudicial killings, the use of live ammunition before arrests, severe physical abuse and aggressive field interrogations.

First-hand reports describe the use of police dogs, human shields and the taking of hostages during these now daily military operations. There have also been widespread incidents of home demolitions, property confiscation — including vehicles, money, gold and electronic devices — and the blowing up of detainees’ homes.

These detentions are part of a larger military offensive against the Palestinian population. The data includes those still in custody and those who have since been released, highlighting the scale and impact of Israel’s ongoing crackdown.

Tension has been running high across the occupied West Bank amid a brutal Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 41,600 people, mostly women and children, since 7 October last year. At least 719 Palestinians, including 160 children, have since been killed in the West Bank and Jerusalem, nearly 6,200 others have been wounded and 11,000 have been arrested.

The escalation follows a landmark advisory opinion in July by the International Court of Justice that declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land to be unlawful and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

READ: Israel approved over 80 illegal settlement plans in occupied West Bank, Jerusalem since 2022: Palestinian authorities