Israel continues raids in occupied West Bank, arrests 13 Palestinians

Israeli security forces arrested at least 13 Palestinians on Thursday in raids across the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian sources. Those arrested included three brothers, the Prisoners’ Media Office and local sources said. Paramedic and anti-settlement activist Bashar al-Qaryouti was also arrested, the sources reported. In Hebron, Israeli forces continued raids and closures for the seventh consecutive day, shutting iron gates around the Old City and seizing Palestinian homes in the Jalda and Ain Deir Baha neighborhoods for use as military barracks, local sources told Anadolu.

The Hebron Municipality said Tuesday that the raids had displaced nearly 5,000 Palestinians, making up 780 families. The offensive began Friday following an attack by two Palestinians that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others. The army later killed the two Palestinians. Between Friday and Wednesday, Israeli forces arrested 110 Palestinians, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said. In Salfit, Israeli forces demolished two Palestinian homes and bulldozed land in the town of Deir Ballut, municipal official Jihad Yassin told Anadolu.

He said the forces also bulldozed water lines, citing construction without a permit, and that around 100 demolition notices had been issued in the town, by his estimate. The incidents come amid intensified Israeli army raids and attacks by Israeli occupiers against Palestinians across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza in October 2023.