Most arrests carried out in Hebron’s Al-Fawwar camp, detainees include ex-prisoners freed in recent swap
The Israeli army detained at least 30 Palestinians in military raids across the occupied West Bank, prisoners’ affairs groups said on Tuesday.
In a joint statement, the Palestinian Prisoner Society and the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs said the arrests were part of “systematic collective punishment” under Israel’s ongoing war.
The statement said the raids included field interrogations and were concentrated in Al-Fawwar refugee camp in Hebron, while others took place in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nablus, Tubas, Salfit, Tulkarem, and Qalqilya.
Among those detained were three former prisoners from Qalqilya who had been released in the most recent prisoner swap in January and February this year.
The groups said the re-arrest of freed prisoners, especially those released in swaps, reflects “a deliberate policy aimed at keeping them under constant threat and persecution, in clear violation of the deal.”
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and the West Bank on Oct. 7, 2023, more than 18,000 Palestinians have been detained in the West Bank, the statement noted. This figure does not include the thousands arrested in Gaza, and covers both those still held and those later released.
Israel is currently holding around 10,800 Palestinians in its prisons, including about 450 children, 50 women, and 3,629 administrative detainees, according to official Palestinian figures. These numbers exclude thousands of cases of enforced disappearance of detainees from Gaza.
At least 1,009 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers since October 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal, demanding the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
