By Qais Abu Samra and Betul Yilmaz
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – The Israeli army rounded up at least 30 more Palestinians in fresh military raids in the occupied West Bank, according to prisoners’ affairs groups on Thursday.
Children and former prisoners were among the detainees in the raids that targeted several towns in the West Bank, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.
The raids came as the Israeli army 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.
Palestinian authorities have warned that the Israeli military escalation is part of a broader plan by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to annex the occupied West Bank and declare sovereignty over it, which could officially mark the end of the two-state solution.
Tension has been running high across the West Bank, where at least 930 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 others injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the 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.