Israel arrests 40 Palestinians in West Bank: Prisoners group

By Qais Omar Darwesh Omar

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – The Israeli army on Saturday arrested 40 Palestinians across the West Bank, bringing the total number of detainees to 2,080 since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society.

In a statement, the group said “the occupation forces arrested at least 40 citizens, including two women, between Saturday night and Sunday dawn, from cities and towns in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”

Since Oct. 7, the Israeli army has arrested a total of 2,080 Palestinians, it added.

Arrests are carried out by raiding Palestinian homes during night, and the detainees are transferred to temporary detention centers before being referred to the main investigation centers or prisons, according to an Anadolu reporter.

Various parts of the West Bank and Jerusalem witness daily raids and incursions into villages and towns by the Israeli army, accompanied by confrontations, arrests, and the firing of live and rubber bullets and poisonous tear gas bombs at young Palestinians.

These confrontations come as the Israeli army has widened its air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip, which has been under relentless airstrikes since the surprise offensive by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7.

The death toll from Israeli bombardments in the Gaza Strip has risen to 9,500, including 3,900 children and 2,509 women, the government media office in the Gaza Strip announced on Saturday.

Nearly 1,540 Israelis have been killed.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi