Israeli raid destroys Birzeit University memorial amid mounting West Bank arrests

- Memorial dedicated to students killed in Israeli attacks

- 12 Palestinians, including 3 children, 2 women, arrested across multiple West Bank cities

LONDON: Israeli forces demolished a memorial at Birzeit University in the West Bank on Monday and arrested 12 Palestinians in raids across several cities, Palestinian sources said.

The sources told Anadolu Agency that Israeli forces entered the Birzeit University campus, north of Ramallah, with a military bulldozer and destroyed a memorial bearing the names of university students killed in Israeli attacks over the years.

Troops also detained a university security guard, searched several campus facilities and deployed across the university grounds, the sources said.

Birzeit University later posted a photograph on Facebook showing the site where the memorial had stood.

The raid followed a Sept. 26 incursion in which Israeli forces entered the campus, photographed the memorial and withdrew, according to Palestinian media.

Birzeit University, which reportedly has 13,400 students enrolled in nine faculties and 174 academic programs for the 2025-26 academic year, has been repeatedly raided by Israeli forces.

Some previous raids have resulted in arrests and injuries, according to Palestinian accounts.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli forces arrested 12 Palestinians, including three children and two women, during raids in Tubas, Nablus, Jenin, Bethlehem, Ramallah and Al-Bireh, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office said.

Those detained included two people in Tammun, one of them a woman; three children in the villages of Deir Sharaf and Qusin; three people in Meithalun; two in Bethlehem; and a political activist and a Birzeit University student in the Ramallah area, the office said.

Palestinian prisoner-affairs organizations say about 9,350 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons, including 90 women and 350 children.

The arrests came amid the annual olive harvest, during which Palestinian farmers in several West Bank areas reported attacks by Israeli settlers. Local sources and the Al-Baydar rights organization said settlers stole harvested olives, damaged trees and seized a tractor, while Israeli forces blocked farmers from reaching some of their land.

Near Bazariya, northwest of Nablus, settlers seized a tractor, according to the sources. In Umm Safa, northwest of Ramallah, settlers allegedly stole olives and damaged trees. Israeli forces also prevented farmers from harvesting olives in the Jabal Qamas area between Beita and Osarin, south of Nablus, the sources said.

The Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said Israeli settlers have carried out more than 14,742 attacks in the West Bank since Oct. 7, 2023, killing 66 Palestinians and damaging more than 147,000 trees, including over 100,000 olive trees.