Israeli occupation forces arrest dozens of Palestinians, including a child and a journalist in the West Bank

Israeli occupation forces carried out a wide-scale raid campaign in various areas of the occupied West Bank at dawn on Monday, resulting in the arrest of dozens of Palestinians, including a child and a journalist.

The campaign included intensive raids on Palestinian homes in several governorates, accompanied by extensive military deployment, searches, and tampering with household contents.

Sources indicated that the town of Awarta, south of Nablus city in the northern West Bank, witnessed the largest number of arrests, where 21 Palestinians were detained, in addition to arresting one citizen from Nablus city itself. The Israeli forces also arrested 20 Palestinians from Aida camp north of Bethlehem, in the southern West Bank.

In the northern West Bank, sources reported the arrest of three Palestinians from Tulkarm city, including a child, along with arresting two from Tubas governorate, and five others from Qalqilya governorate. The arrests also targeted one citizen from the town of Silwad east of Ramallah, in the central West Bank.

In Hebron governorate in the south, Israeli forces arrested journalist Inas Akhlaoui from the town of Idhna, without announcing the reasons for the arrest or issuing official charges so far.

Sources noted that the raid operations were accompanied by deliberate vandalism of household contents and destruction of furniture, in addition to subjecting some residents to field interrogations, amid an atmosphere of tension and fear, especially among women and children.

These arrests come in the context of ongoing escalation in the West Bank since the outbreak of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on October 8, 2023. According to official Palestinian data, at least 1,105 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, by Israeli army fire and settlers, while about 11,000 others were injured, alongside the arrest of more than 21,000 Palestinians during the same period.

In the Gaza Strip, Israel's occupation war, with American support, has resulted in the killing of more than 71,000 Palestinians and injuring about 171,000, mostly children and women, in addition to widespread destruction affecting nearly 90% of the civilian infrastructure, according to UN estimates, which put the cost of reconstruction at around 70 billion dollars.

It is worth noting that Israel was declared in 1948 on Palestinian lands that were occupied by force, and it continues to control the occupied Palestinian territories, amid ongoing refusal to fully withdraw or allow the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.