ISRAELI police arrested 561 Palestinian workers throughout the 1948 occupied territories last week under the pretext of entering ‘without permits’.
Human rights groups have condemned this as a systematic campaign of persecution targeting Palestinians seeking to earn a livelihood under conditions of siege and economic strangulation.
In addition, 61 individuals – including employers, drivers, and hosts – were arrested for allegedly providing shelter, transportation, or employment to these workers.
The police acknowledged that the Jerusalem area and its surroundings were the primary focus of the campaign, with 328 workers and 34 employers arrested in that zone alone.
Among the cases cited was the arrest of a driver in Eilat who was transporting Palestinian workers in a commercial vehicle, two of whom were found hidden in the back of the vehicle.
Even Palestinians who hold work permits endure degrading and exhausting conditions at Israeli military checkpoints.
Many begin their day before dawn and wait in crowded, dehumanising inspection lines for hours before being allowed to cross into their workplaces.
Due to the collapse of the economy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip – exacerbated by decades of Israeli policies of military closures and land seizures – many Palestinians risk arrest and harassment to work inside the 1948 occupied territories.
With job opportunities scarce and wages low in Palestinian areas, crossing into Israeli-controlled regions has become a lifeline for thousands of families.
Activists report that Palestinian workers are often forced to sleep outdoors – under trees, in abandoned structures, or on construction sites – to avoid daily police patrols and checkpoints, highlighting the inhumane cost of survival under military occupation.
The Israeli police’s arrest campaigns have been particularly intense in the Galilee, the Triangle, the Negev, and along the coast, where many Palestinians work in construction and service sectors.
Human rights organisations have denounced these practices as a form of collective punishment and racial profiling, part of a broader strategy of marginalisation and control.
This escalation in arrests comes as Israel intensifies its security and economic stranglehold on Palestinian territories amid international condemnation of its ongoing war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank.
These arrests strip Palestinians of their most basic right – the right to work – and reflect the discriminatory core of the occupation regime.
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) continue to intensify their assault across the West Bank, executing widespread demolitions and military raids, at the same time enabling a sharp rise in settler violence against Palestinian communities – all amid ongoing international silence.
In Jenin, in the northern West Bank, the IOF stormed the refugee camp Saturday evening, blowing up a home and triggering massive plumes of smoke and explosions across the city.
Bulldozers carried out further destruction inside the camp, as part of a campaign Israel publicly declared on June 9th to demolish nearly 100 homes.
According to Jenin’s municipality, more than 600 homes have already been completely destroyed, while dozens more are now uninhabitable because they have been so badly damaged that they need to be rebuilt.
Meanwhile, a tight siege remains in place on the Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, alongside heavy military patrols.
Local sources say the IOF is preparing to demolish another 106 buildings in these camps, part of a broader military operation launched on January 21 and now expanding across northern West Bank regions.
In Nablus, settlers – backed by IOF soldiers – attacked the home of the Soufan family in the village of Burin, forcing the residents out and erecting a tent at the site, suggesting intentions of a permanent settler outpost.
Nearby, violent clashes erupted in the village of Tel between residents and combined forces of settlers and IOF units.
In Jericho, settlers invaded the Shalal al-Auja Bedouin community, walking through residential areas in an apparent attempt to impose new colonial ‘realities on the ground’.
This was mirrored by events in Khirbet Samra near Tubas, where six Palestinian families were forced to leave their homes after enduring two years of sustained settler violence.
Military raids also swept through Ramallah, Qalqilya, Tulkarem, and Al-Khalil, with heavy use of live fire and tear gas, particularly in Al-Fawwar and Al-Aroub refugee camps in the southern West Bank.
These attacks are seen as part of Israel’s wider campaign of aggression, escalating since October 7th, 2023, with direct United States support.
On Sunday night, the Israeli occupation army continued its deadly attacks in different areas of the Gaza Strip, killing and injuring dozens of civilians.
According to local media sources, Israeli forces also detonated and bombed more homes and displaced families, further deepening the dire humanitarian crisis in the Strip as the population grapples with worsening famine.
According to a Palestinian Information Centre (PIC) reporter in Gaza, Israeli attacks have continued across the Strip, including a strike that killed three people in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis.
Another strike on a gathering of citizens in Gaza City’s at-Tuffah neighbourhood killed two.
An Israeli artillery attack also killed three children from the Abu Warda family in Ahmed Fekri Street in Jabalia in the north of Gaza.
Four people were killed, including a little girl, in an Israeli attack on a family home in the al-Sabra neighbourhood in Gaza City.
Five people were also killed and others injured in an airstrike on a house in the al-Tuffah neighbourhood, while two kids were killed and others injured in another Israeli attack on the Azzam family home in the nearby al-Zeitoun neighbourhood.
Dozens of people were also killed or injured in Israeli attacks on aid seekers near United States-backed distribution points in southern and central Gaza.
Also yesterday, the Israeli occupation forces launched attacks on other areas of the Gaza Strip, killing and wounding more civilians, including children and women.
Meanwhile, many Gazans were pronounced dead after they succumbed to injuries they sustained in recent attacks.
Scores of extremist Jewish settlers desecrated the al-Aqsa Mosque in Occupied Jerusalem on Sunday morning and later in the afternoon, amid tight restrictions on the entry of Muslim worshippers to the holy site.
According to the Islamic Awqaf Administration in the holy city, at least 110 settlers entered the Mosque in the morning through the Maghariba Gate and provocatively toured its courtyards under police protection.
During their tours at the Islamic holy site, the settlers received lectures from rabbis about the alleged Temple Mount and a number of them provocatively performed Talmudic prayers in the eastern area of the Mosque.
Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation police imposed movement and entry restrictions on any Muslim worshippers at the Mosque’s entrances and gates and prevented many of them from entering the holy site.
Palestinian activists have urged their compatriots in Jerusalem and 1948 occupied Palestine to intensify their presence inside the al-Aqsa Mosque’s courtyards and premises after it was reopened following several days of Israeli closure.
Meanwhile, Israeli settlers uprooted approximately 180 trees and saplings in the town of Azzun, east of Qalqilya, on Sunday, in yet another assault on Palestinian agricultural land.
Settlers from the nearby Ma’ale Shomron settlement – illegally built on lands belonging to Azzun, Kafr Laqif, and Jinsafut – uprooted 55 mature olive trees and 25 citrus trees, all owned by Palestinian farmer Radi Radwan. The trees were estimated to be around 15 years old.
The settlers also stole agricultural equipment, destroyed the farm’s irrigation network, and inflicted material damage estimated at 10,000 shekels (about $2,700).
In a separate attack, the settlers uprooted 100 olive saplings, approximately three years old, belonging to Mahmoud Radwan.
The assault occurred in the ‘Wadi Abu Shaar’ area, situated near Road No. 55, a major route connecting Qalqilya and Nablus. The area has been the site of repeated settler attacks, often carried out under the protection or tacit support of Israeli occupation forces (IOF).
In a related development, IOF troops have continued to block the entrance to Kafr Laqif – a neighbouring village – for 17 consecutive days, using an iron gate to restrict Palestinian movement.
The closure has forced residents to rely on rough, unpaved roads to access their homes and workplaces, further deepening their daily hardships.
These escalating attacks are part of a broader settler-colonial strategy aimed at displacing Palestinians from their land, particularly in Area C of the West Bank, where Israeli settlements continue to expand despite being illegal under international law.
