Over 760 Palestinians arrested in Israeli raids in West Bank in February

By Qais Abu Samra and Ahmed Asmar

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – The Israeli army detained 762 Palestinians in military raids across the occupied West Bank in February, prisoners’ affairs groups said on Monday.

“The detainees included 19 women and 90 children,” the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.

According to the statement, last month saw a surge in field interrogations as hundreds of Palestinians were interrogated by Israeli forces on the field.

The arrests came as the Israeli army has continued a deadly military offensive in the northern West Bank, killing at least 65 Palestinians and displacing thousands since Jan. 21.

According to Palestinian figures, Israel holds over 9,500 Palestinian detainees in its prisons, including 1,555 prisoners from the Gaza Strip.

Tension has been running high across the West Bank, where at least 930 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers since the start of the onslaught on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s long-standing occupation of Palestinian territories illegal, calling for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.