By Awad al-Rujoub
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – The Israeli army raided several areas in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, arresting at least 12 Palestinians, local media and witnesses said.
Five military vehicles pushed into the city of Tulkarem and blocked traffic in several streets, the official news agency Wafa reported.
Israeli forces also staged military raids in the towns of Kafr al-Labad and Anabta near Tulkarem, witnesses said.
Meanwhile, at least 12 Palestinians were detained by Israeli forces in several areas in the West Bank, according to prisoners' affairs groups.
The arrests took place during raids in the cities of Nablus, Qalqilya, Hebron, Bethlehem, and Ramallah, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.
“The raids were marked by abuse, threats against detainees and their families, and acts of vandalism and destruction on citizens' homes,” it added.
An injured person was among those detained. No information was yet available about his health condition.
The new arrests brought the number of Palestinians detained by the Israeli army in the West Bank since October last year to over 11,700, including those who were released after being arrested, according to Palestinian figures.
The figure doesn't include those arrested from the Gaza Strip whose numbers are estimated to be in the thousands.
Over the past few years, the Israeli military has conducted regular raids in the West Bank, which have escalated with the beginning of the war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. Palestinians have also been violently attacked by illegal Israeli settlers.
Nearly 795 Palestinians have since been killed and over 6,450 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.
In July, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark advisory opinion that declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar