Israeli forces demolish memorial at Birzeit University, arrest 12 Palestinians in West Bank raids

Israeli forces demolished a memorial inside Birzeit University, north of Ramallah in the central West Bank, and arrested 12 Palestinians in separate raids on Monday as occupiers attacked farmers and stole olive harvests in the occupied territory, Anadolu reports.

An Israeli force stormed the university campus accompanied by a military bulldozer and demolished the memorial, which bears the names of Birzeit University students killed in Israeli attacks over the years, local sources said.

The forces also detained a university security guard, raided several facilities and deployed around the campus during the raid, the sources said.

Birzeit University posted a photo on the US social media platform Facebook showing the site where the memorial had stood.

On Sept. 26, Palestinian reports said Israeli forces had raided the campus and photographed the memorial before withdrawing.

Birzeit University has 13,400 students across nine faculties and 174 academic programs, according to figures for the 2025-2026 academic year. It has repeatedly been subjected to Israeli raids, some of which have resulted in arrests and injuries.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces arrested 12 Palestinians, including three children and two women, during raids in Tubas, Nablus, Jenin, Bethlehem, Ramallah and Al-Bireh, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office said.

The detainees included two Palestinians in Tammun, one of them a woman, three children in Deir Sharaf and Qusin, three Palestinians in Meithalun, two in Bethlehem, and a political activist and a Birzeit University student in the Ramallah area.

Around 9,350 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli jails, including 90 women and 350 children, according to Palestinian organizations that monitor prisoner affairs.

READ: 30 Palestinians killed in Israeli occupier attacks in West Bank since start of 2026

Occupier attacks

Separately, Israeli occupiers attacked Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest in several areas in the West Bank, stealing harvested olives and a tractor, while Israeli forces prevented farmers from reaching their land, according to local sources and the Al-Baydar rights organization.

In Nablus, occupiers seized a tractor nearby Bazariya, and stole olives and damaged trees in Umm Safa northwest of Ramallah. Israeli forces also prevented farmers from harvesting olives in the Jabal Qamas area between Beita and Osarin south of Nablus.

According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, Israeli occupiers have carried out more than 14,742 attacks in the West Bank since Oct. 7, 2023, killing 66 Palestinians and damaging more than 147,000 trees, including over 100,000 olive trees.

In Hebron, the Israeli army demolished a 130-square-meter (1,399-square-foot) Palestinian home sheltering two families in Khallet al-Deirat on the grounds that it was built without a permit, homeowner Fares Mohammed told Anadolu.

“The demolition took around 25 minutes and left both families homeless,” Mohammed said.

The house is located in Area C, which is under full Israeli civil and security control under the Oslo II framework.

Israel carried out 341 demolition operations involving 740 Palestinian structures in the first half of 2026 and issued 254 demolition notices, according to official Palestinian figures.

Since the start of the genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, the Israeli army and occupiers have intensified attacks in the West Bank, involving killings, arrests, displacement, home demolitions, land leveling and illegal settlement expansion.

READ: Former European diplomats, ministers, officials urge EU to act against illegal West Bank settlements