Israeli forces detained at least 55 Palestinians in Tuesday dawn raids throughout the West Bank against the backdrop of ongoing search operations for three Jewish teenagers who disappeared last Thursday from a West Bank settlement, a Palestinian NGO has said.
Most detentions occurred in the West Bank cities of Hebron, Ramallah, Nablus and Jenin, the Palestinian Prisoners' Society, a local NGO, said in a statement.
The figure is 14 short of that given by Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee, who tweeted earlier that Israeli forces had detained a total of 41 Palestinians.
In recent days, Israeli security forces have detained scores of Palestinians – including leading Hamas members, lawmakers and former government ministers – in raids conducted throughout the West Bank.
Tension has run high in the Palestinian territories since the three settlers went missing late Thursday from the Jewish-only Gush Etzion settlement near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
Israel has accused the Gaza-based Hamas movement of kidnapping the settlers, holding the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) responsible for their safety.
Hamas, for its part, has dismissed the Israeli claims as "stupid."
No Palestinian group has claimed responsibility for the alleged kidnapping.
In an earlier statement, the Palestinian Prisoners' Society said Israel had applied its "administrative detention" policy – by which holds detainees without charge for long periods – to most of the Palestinians detained in recent days.
The latest raft of Israeli administrative detention orders comes as scores of Palestinian administrative detainees continue to wage a weeks-long hunger strike to protest the policy, which allows prisoners to be held without charge for renewable periods of up to six months.
Israeli administrative detention orders can be extended by up to five years by Israeli military courts.
According to an earlier estimate by the Palestinian Prisoners' Society, some 5200 Palestinians – including 191 in administrative detention – continue to languish in Israeli jails.
By Qais Abu Samra
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en
