Israeli military carries out raids and arrests across the occupied West Bank
The Israeli military has carried out arrests across the occupied West Bank tonight, including in Hebron, where the Wafa news agency reports that one man has been detained during the storming of the city.
Israeli forces have also raided the town of Halhul and re-arrested a Palestinian man that had been released from an Israeli prison two weeks ago, according to Wafa.
The Israeli military has also stormed the town of Qabatiya and a village south of Jenin where they arrested a Palestinian man. Footage reportedly from the raid in Qabatiya shows an Israeli bulldozer being struck with an explosive device.
Raids have also been reported in other locations across the occupied West Bank, including:
- The cities of Ramallah and el-Bireh
- The town of Beit Ummar, west of Hebron
- The town of Barta’a, west of Jenin
- The town of Urif and the village of Tal, south of Nablus
UN rapporteur: Palestinians have endured ‘half a century of rapacious military dictatorship’
The UN rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, has said that Israel’s war on Gaza “has to come to an end now”.
She said that “this did not start on October 7” and highlighted the more than 5,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza over five separate wars since 2008.
“[That’s] without counting the mass destruction, the maiming, the arbitrary arrests and detentions, the home demolitions, the forced displacement and countless other horrors the Palestinians have had to endure in over half a century of rapacious military dictatorship in the occupied Palestinian territory,” she wrote in a post on X.
Yes, Secretary General: this monstruosity has to come to an end now.
We must not forget that it did not start on Oct7. Israel had killed more than 5000 ppl in Gaza alone in 5 wars before Oct7 (2008,2012,2014,
2021,2022), without counting the mass destruction, the maiming, the… https://t.co/ey2p95gJNq
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) May 8, 2024
Gaza war protesters stop traffic in Chicago as Biden attends fundraiser
President Biden is at a fundraiser … and it is rush hour in Chicago, and traffic on State Street, a famous street here in town, is stopped dead while these protesters stop the movement of traffic. They have been very successful.
So what they are doing here is making a point – while President Biden is literally within hearing distance – and they are insisting that what he has done is not enough. That it is a first step.
What they want is an actual ceasefire in Gaza.
This goes beyond those protests we’ve seen at universities across the US. This is an instance of people in the city, the public, non-students, and also students as well, getting together to protest.
Police have surrounded them … but they are not making arrests. They are allowing them to continue this protest.
And it looks like it may go on for some time yet.
