Israeli forces today detained at least seven Palestinians, mostly in predawn raids across the occupied West Bank, according to local and security sources.
They said that Israeli forces rounded up a Palestinian and ransacked his family house in Beit Jala city, west of the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Meanwhile, Israeli army vehicles stormed the northern West Bank city of Jenin, where the soldiers detained five others, including two brothers and two others, and searched the houses of their families, turning them upside down.
In the meantime, the heavily-armed soldiers conducted a similar raid that triggered confrontations in Ni’lin town, west of Ramallah city, broke into several houses and conducted thorough searches, turning them topsy-turvy.
The soldiers forcibly enter a house in Beit Ula town, northwest of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, and detained another.
Israeli forces frequently raid Palestinian houses almost on a daily basis across the West Bank on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians, triggering clashes with residents.
These raids, which take place also in areas under the full control of the Palestinian Authority, are conducted with no need for a search warrant, whenever and wherever the military chooses in keeping with its sweeping arbitrary powers.
Under Israeli military law army commanders have full executive, legislative and judicial authority over 3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank. Palestinians have no say in how this authority is exercised.
According to the latest figures from Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, there are currently 4,780 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 160 children and 29 female prisoners.
This number includes 915 Palestinians placed under ‘administrative detention’, that allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable intervals ranging between three and six months based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.
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 1 million. This means that about 40% of Palestinian men and boys living under military occupation have been deprived of their freedom. Almost every Palestinian family has suffered the imprisonment of a loved one.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency (WAFA)