Israel arrested 12,100 Palestinians in West Bank since Oct 2023

Israeli occupation forces have arrested 12,100 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since they launched the war on Gaza on 7 October 2023, a prisoners’ rights group said.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club pointed out that the figure does not include Palestinians detained in Gaza, which are estimated in the thousands.

According to the rights group, the detainees included more than 440 women and 795 children, noting a majority of the arrests took place in the governorates of Jerusalem and Hebron.

Occupation forces have also arrested 141 journalists, of whom 59 remain in detention, including five women and 33 journalists from Gaza.

More than 10,000 administrative detention orders were issued during that period.

The ongoing arrest campaigns are accompanied by escalating abuse and severe beatings, and verbal and physical threats against detainees and their families, sabotage and destruction of citizens’ homes, as well as the confiscation of personal vehicles, cash and jewellery, the organisation added.

Detainees were also used as human shields, while their families were held as hostages for periods.

In addition to the arrest campaigns, the Prisoners Club said occupation forces carried out field executions, including against family members of the prisoners.

Israel continues to withhold the bodies of 47 Palestinian prisoners who died in its jails since the start of the war on Gaza.

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