Jerusalem24 – Israeli forces Thursday overnight detained 21 Palestinians in multiple raids across the West Bank, according to local and security sources.
The sources said that Israeli forces rounded up three Palestinians and ransacked their houses in Kobar village, northwest of Ramallah.
The forces rounded up three others after storming and searching their houses in Abu Shukheidim village, northwest of the city.
In the northern West Bank, heavily-armed soldiers barged their way into the Nablus city neighborhood of Jabal al-Shamali and detained another.
The detainee was identified as the brother of Adham Mabrouka, one of the three Palestinians gunned down by Israeli forces in a targeted operation in Nablus city on February 8.
During ensuing confrontations, the soldiers opened fire towards local teens who attempted to block their passage, hitting and injuring one in the chest and another in the hand.
The sources confirmed a raid in Beit Dajan, a town located to the east of the city, which has become a scene of weekly Friday protests against decades of Israeli settler-colonialism and apartheid, resulting in the detention of another.
Still, in the northern West Bank, the military vehicles stormed Jenin city, where Israeli soldiers rounded up three others.
Gun-toting soldiers showed up at the houses of the detainees’ families, muscled inside, conducted a thorough search before brutally assaulting one of the detainees.
They conducted a similar raid in Kafr Ra’I town, southwest of the city, resulting in the detention of two others, including a former prisoner.
In the Jordan Valley, the soldiers forcibly entered a house and rounded up another from Aqabat Jaber, a refugee camp to the southwest of Jericho.
Another was rounded up after being stopped at the Israeli-controlled Allenby Bridge (King Hussein) border crossing while he was making his way back from Jordan.
In the southern West Bank, heavily-armed soldiers barged their way into Harmala village, east of Bethlehem, and rounded up two others.
Soldiers raided several houses in the southern West Bank city of Hebron and Yatta town and detained four others.
On Wednesday evening, Israeli soldiers detained five young men who were chased after by settlers for picking Gundelia to the east of Kallet Makhoul area in the northern Jordan Valley.
Israeli forces frequently raid Palestinian houses almost on a daily basis across the West Bank on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians, triggering clashes with residents.
These raids, which take place also in areas under the full control of the Palestinian Authority, are conducted with no need for a search warrant, whenever and wherever the military chooses in keeping with its sweeping arbitrary powers.
Under Israeli military law army commanders have full executive, legislative and judicial authority over 3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank. Palestinians have no say in how this authority is exercised.
