Israeli occupation forces dawn Friday detained eight Palestinians, including two wounded youths, in multiple raids across the occupied West Bank, according to security sources. They said that Israeli soldiers showed up at a house belonging to the Tamimi family in Nabi Saleh village, northwest of Ramallah, broke inside and rounded up two youths who sustained injuries from Israeli army gunfire during confrontations in the village. One of the youths sustained a head injury after being hit by a round shot by the soldiers several days ago, while the other sustained a head injury after being shot by sponge-tipped bullet. Meanwhile, a convoy of army vehicles stormed Beita town, south of Nablus, where the soldiers broke into a house, conducted a thorough search and eventually rounded up another. In Hebron district, the soldiers rounded up five others, a father along with his son and three brothers, from Zweidin community of the Masafer Yatta. In the meantime, a convoy of army vehicles barged their way into the northern West Bank city of Jenin as the troops fired barrage of live ammunition and concussion bombs. During the ensuing confrontations, the troops targeted an electrical substation transformer, setting it on fire. They prevented Palestinian firefighters from approaching the scene to extinguish the fires and wreaked havoc inside a store. 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 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 160 children and 31 female prisoners. This number includes 1,083 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: National News Agency – Lebanon