Israel arrests 27 more Palestinians in West Bank raids

RAMALLAH, Palestine

At least 27 Palestinians were rounded up in Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, according to witnesses.

A journalist was among the detainees in the raids that targeted the cities of Nablus, Qalqilya, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron, and other towns in the occupied territory.

Israeli army forces searched and vandalized several homes in Qalqilya and the nearby town of Jayyus, arresting 13 people, witnesses said.

Four more people were detained in Nablus amid clashes between angry residents and Israeli forces, which used live fire and tear gas canisters during the raid, they added.

No injuries were reported.

In Jenin, two people were arrested by Israeli army forces, including a journalist, witnesses said.

More than 10,700 Palestinians have been arrested by the Israeli army in the West Bank since last October amid rising tensions over the ongoing Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 41,300 people, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian figures.

The figure does not, however, include those arrested from the Gaza Strip, whose numbers are estimated in the thousands.

At least 707 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 5,700 others injured by Israeli army fire in the West Bank since last Oct. 7, according to the Health Ministry.

The escalation follows a landmark July opinion by the International Court of Justice that declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land "illegal" and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar