ISRAELI forces detained at least 14 Palestinians during raids in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem before dawn on Wednesday, with one family reporting being violently assaulted by Israeli soldiers during a raid to detain a young man who was not in the house, according to Palestinian sources.
Local sources in the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron said that Israeli forces detained three Palestinian residents of the area, also seizing cash and a private vehicle during the raids.
Munjid Mousa al-Jenidi and Muhammad Maher Ebied were detained after Israeli forces raided their houses in Hebron city, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) and local sources. Israeli forces detained Muhammad Mousa Rujoub, a Palestinian security forces officer from the Hebron-area town of Dura, after he passed through the Allenby Bridge border crossing with Jordan, upon returning from the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, PPS and local sources said.
Israeli forces raided and searched the homes of Nihyad al-Jabaa and Amro Ebied in Hebron city, but did not detain them, according to locals. A bakery in Hebron was also raided and searched, but its two Palestinian owners were reportedly not detained, according to locals.
Sources added that Israeli forces seized 13,000 shekels (about $3,650) and a vehicle from Saadi al-Qawasmeh after raiding his house in Hebron city, though he was not detained. Meanwhile, sources in Beit Ummar north of Hebron city said Israeli forces conducted a violent raid in the town, assaulting a family, but reported no detentions.
Local activist Muhammad Ayyad Awad said that Israeli soldiers raided Muhammad Kamil al-Zaaqiq’s house, destroying doors, beds, and other furniture and belongings. Israeli soldiers assaulted Muhammad’s two sons Ayman, 37, and Kamil, 20, by kicking them and beating them with rifles. Israeli forces also attempted to assault the 60-year-old Muhammad and his wife, Awad said.
According to Awad, Kamil sustained different injuries and was badly bruised. Awad said that Israeli soldiers told the family they were looking for Kamil and Ayman’s 26-year-old brother Yousif, who has previously spent five years in Israeli custody, and was released just two months ago. Yousif was not at home during the violent raid.
In the central occupied West Bank, PPS said that Yousif Awad al-Tabal was detained from Abud northwest of Ramallah, while Muhammad Yousif Jaber was detained in Beitin in the northern outskirts of Ramallah city. PPS reported that Israeli forces detained three Palestinian in the town of Jayyus in the northern occupied West Bank district of Qalqiliya, identifying them as Yahiya Ali Nufil, Abada Shamasna, and Fouad Naim Bida.
Also in the north in Nablus city, Islam Bilal al-Masri was detained overnight, according to PPS.
Palestinian Wafa news agency also reported that Israeli forces shut down a metal workshop in the town of Arraba in the northernmost Jenin district.
Palestinian security sources told Wafa that Israeli forces shut down the metal workshop, owned by Mustafa Sadeq Arda, and confiscated equipment from three other metal workshops in the town. Israeli forces regularly target West Bank metal workshops on allegations that weapons are produced there.
Israeli news site Arutz Sheva said reported that the workshop was manufacturing firearms and other weapons ‘intended for use in terror attacks against Israeli civilians and security personnel.’ The newspaper also said that during a raid in the Jenin-area village of al-Mughayyir, Israeli forces found ‘a makeshift firearm.’
IDF, Shin Bet, and Border Police forces also operated in Judea overnight, seizing thousands of shekels and a car from a Hamas cell in Hevron. A total of 13 wanted Palestinians were captured overnight across Judea and Samaria, including nine suspected in terror attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces.
An Israeli army spokesperson said they were looking into reports of detentions and raids in the occupied West Bank. Meanwhile, local sources in occupied East Jerusalem reported Israeli police raids in Issawiya, at-Tur, and Shufat refugee camp, with a total of five Palestinians being detained before dawn on Wednesday.
Israeli forces detained four Palestinians from the at-Tur neighbourhood after raiding their houses. They were identified as Abdullah Abu Ghannam, 18, Imad Abu Ghannam, 17, Kamel al-Alami, and his brother Tariq, according to a report from local watchdog the Wadi HIlweh Information Centre that cited Jerusalem-based lawyer Muhammad Mahmoud.
Thaer Fasfous, a spokesperson for the Fatah movement in Shufat refugee camp, said that Israeli forces raided the house of Muhammad Abu Taleb in the camp and detained him, with the raid sparking violent clashes between Israeli forces and locals.
Fasfous added that Israeli forces ‘deliberately provoke locals in the camp by randomly raiding houses on a daily basis and showering houses and local shops with tear gas’. Muhammad Abu al-Hummus, a member of a local popular committee in Issawiya, said that Israeli police and intelligence forces raided the neighbourhood with police dogs and searched the house of Rafaat Tariq al-Issawi. No detentions were reported in Issawiya.
In response to request for comment on the detentions and raids in al-Tur, Shufat, and Issawiya, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said he could not confirm the incidents and said he been in the East Jerusalem area ‘all morning’.
Israeli raids into Palestinian Authority-controlled towns, villages, and refugee camps are a daily occurrence in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Due to the typically aggressive nature of the raids, clashes often erupt between local Palestinian youth who throw stones and are met in response with live fire, rubber-coated steel bullets, and tear gas, often resulting in serious, sometimes fatal, injuries.
Since the beginning of 2017, the United Nations documented a biweekly average of 87 Israeli military search and arrest operations into the West Bank. The forceful eviction of a Palestinian family from their home of 53 years in East Jerusalem after an Israeli court ruled that the home belongs to Israeli Jewish settlers hit the front page headlines in Palestinian Arabic dailies.
The three dailies reported Israeli occupation forces forcefully evicted the Shamasna family from their home in East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah to make way for Jewish settlers.
Al-Ayyam reported the homeowner Muhammad Shamasna saying Israeli police raided the home and forced his family out just like bandits do.
It added Israeli police detained two members of the Shamasna family and an international solidarity activist after physically assaulting them. Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida highlighted a statement issued by heads of churches in Jerusalem protesting against an Israeli ruling that force them to sell church lands to Jewish settler organisations.
They quoted Jerusalem hierarchs slamming Israel’s ‘systematic attempt to weaken the Christian presence’ in Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Covering West Bank raids, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian young man during clashes in al-Far’a camp, northeast of Nablus.
Al-Ayyam added Israeli forces also detained a Palestinian security officer allegedly for incitement against Israelis in Facebook posts. Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida also reported an Israeli settler ran over a Palestinian young man to the west of Bethlehem and injured him before he fled the scene.
Al-Ayyam said Israeli forces scattered leaflets throughout the streets of Ramallah and al-Bireh cities in the central West Bank, ordering merchants not to sell toy guns. It added Israeli troops also stormed a print shop in Ramallah city and centre dedicated to the rehabilitation of disabled people in al-Am’ari refugee camp, confiscating equipment.
Al-Quds reported the Palestinian government slamming Israel’s decision to form a council in charge of running Israeli Jewish settlers’ affairs in Hebron as a ‘serious precedent’. It added Israel has suspended granting work visas to international charity workers delivering aid to Palestinians.