Israeli army detains 35 Palestinians, including children, in West Bank raids

RAMALLAH, Palestine / ISTANBUL

The Israeli army rounded up at least 35 Palestinians, including children, in military raids in the occupied West Bank, prisoners’ affairs groups said on Tuesday.

Children and former prisoners were among the detainees in the raids that targeted Nablus, Salfit, Qalqilya, Jenin, Tulkarem, Hebron, and Bethlehem in the occupied territory, the Commission of Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.

Since October 2023, over 18,000 Palestinians have been detained by the Israeli army in the West Bank, according to Palestinian figures.

The figure, however, does not include thousands of Palestinians who were arrested by the Israeli army in Gaza since October 2023.

Rights groups estimate the number of Palestinians held by Israel at around 10,800 people, including 50 women, 450 children, and 3,629 held without trial or charge under Israel’s notorious policy of administrative detention.

Separately, 12 Palestinians were injured and two others arrested after Israeli forces raided a factory in the city of Hebron in the southern West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.

The organization said that its teams transported 12 workers to the hospital after they were beaten by Israeli soldiers in the Al-Fahs industrial area.

Israeli forces stormed the factory, assaulted workers, and detained two individuals before withdrawing, witnesses said.

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, at least 998 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.