What life is like in Hebron in the occupied West Bank
Earlier, the Wafa news agency reported that Israeli soldiers raided the home of the mayor of Hebron. The city is subjected to regular raids from Israeli soldiers, who exert significant control over the lives of Palestinians who live there.
Here is a quick look at what life is like for them:
- More than 100 Israeli gates and checkpoints prevent Palestinians from coming and going from Hebron’s Old City, with the few residents that remain often describing the historic area as a prison.
- Many shops in the Old City have had to close, and those that remain have had to put up nets to catch rubbish thrown at them by Israeli settlers living in the houses above.
- Israeli authorities block Palestinians from driving on and around 65 roads leading to the city centre, including al-Shuhada Street in the Old City.
- Armed Israeli soldiers regularly patrol the Old City, escorting large groups of Israeli settlers.
- Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has said that “systematic abuse and harassment of Palestinians by settlers has become an established part of life in Hebron”.
Israeli soldiers patrol a street in the Old City of Hebron on Saturday
Israeli forces raid cities, towns across occupied West Bank
Here’s a round-up of the overnight operations:
- Israeli forces carried out a wide arrest campaign in the Jalazone refugee camp, north of Ramallah
- Israeli soldiers raided the home of Hebron’s Mayor Tayseer Abu Sneineh
- Sources told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces also stormed the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron
- Israeli forces arrested three Palestinians from Nablus city and Askar al-Balad
- Israeli forces stormed the towns of Azzun and Amatin, east of Qalqilya
- Israeli forces stormed al-Khader town, south of Bethlehem, and fired sound bombs that terrified residents, according to the Wafa news agency
- Israeli forces arrested a young man from the town of Tammun, south of Tubas.
Israeli bullets injure five Palestinians in Jalazone refugee camp
The Palestinian Red Crescent says five Palestinians, including a child, have been injured by bullets fired by Israeli forces in confrontations in the Jalazone refugee camp north of Ramallah.
Earlier, we reported on the raids and arrests Israeli forces conducted across the occupied West Bank overnight.
Israeli army arrests 20 Palestinians in occupied West Bank
The Israeli army has arrested at least 20 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, including former prisoners, during a campaign overnight.
Arrest operations were concentrated in the governorates of Hebron, Ramallah, Jerusalem, Qalqilya and Nablus, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said in a statement.
Israeli authorities mistreating female detainees: Prisoner groups
Female detainees held in Damon Prison in northern Israel are subject to assaults and “inhumane and unethical procedures,” say the Commission of Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society.
A lawyer for the commission said that Palestinian women prisoners are being held inside their cells for 23 hours a day; they are only allocated one hour for a courtyard break and a shower.
The lawyer also said that the food is of poor quality and there’s not enough of it for all the prisoners. “The women also don’t have enough clothes or covers. Moreover, rooms are overcrowded, as 11 detainees are held in the same room. They are also denied medical checks, treatment and medication,” the lawyer said.
