Israel arrests 20 more Palestinians in West Bank raids

By Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – The Israeli army detained 20 more Palestinians in military raids in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, according to prisoners’ affairs groups.

The speaker of the now-disbanded Palestinian Legislative Council, Aziz Dweik, was among the detainees, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.

Dweik was released by the Israeli army earlier this week.

Thursday’s arrests brought to 9,300 Palestinians detained by the Israeli army in the West Bank since last October, according to Palestinian figures.

The Israeli military has been regularly conducting raids in the West Bank over the past few years, which escalated with the start of the war on Gaza last October. Palestinians have also faced violent attacks from illegal settlers.

Nearly 550 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 5,200 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.

Israel stands accused of “genocide” at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara