21 June 2018•Update: 21 June 2018
RAMALLAH, Palestine
The Israeli army rounded up 17 Palestinians in overnight raids carried out across the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian NGO said Thursday.
"Israeli forces raided homes in the cities of Bethlehem and Hebron [Al-Khalil] in the southern West Bank, where they detained nine people," the Palestinian Prisoners Society, which advocates for the rights of Palestinians held by the Israeli authorities, said in a statement.
Eight more Palestinians were arrested in the cities of Nablus and Jenin in the northern West Bank, it added.
The Israeli army frequently conducts wide-ranging arrest campaigns in the occupied West Bank on the pretext of searching for "wanted" Palestinians.
According to Palestinian figures, more than 6,400 Palestinians are currently being held in detention facilities throughout the self-proclaimed Jewish state.
In a related development Thursday, the Israeli army demolished the home of a Palestinian youth who allegedly carried out a vehicular attack earlier this year in the West Bank that left two Israeli soldiers dead.
According to eyewitnesses, over 20 military vehicles surrounded the home of Alaa Kabha, 26, in the village of Yabad near Jenin.
The 150-square-meter structure had been home to 12 Palestinians, half of them children, witnesses said.
According to Palestinian estimates, 40 homes that belonged to alleged Palestinian attackers have been demolished by the Israeli authorities since 2015.
The Palestinian territories have remained tense since last December, when U.S. President Donald Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
