Arrests, clashes during latest West Bank raids
Israeli forces have carried out a series of raids and arrests in the occupied West Bank. According to the Wafa news agency, troops –
- arrested a man from Qalqilya and detained others from the nearby town of Kafr Thulth;
- conducted extensive incursions across Bethlehem city and nearby towns and camps;
- fired tear gas canisters and live rounds in the Qalandiya camp after clashes erupted during their raid, in which they arrested one person; and
- arrested a former prisoner in the town of Kafr Aqab.
‘Breaking people’s spirit’: Israel’s mass arrests in occupied West Bank
Israeli forces detained nearly 1,300 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem last week in a sweeping crackdown denounced as collective punishment against civilians.
Soldiers stormed neighbourhoods and dragged men from homes, shops and vehicles before forcing hundreds into lines and marching them through the streets. Videos from the besieged city showed detainees blindfolded and handcuffed and surrounded by armoured vehicles and soldiers.
“This was not about security, it was about breaking people’s spirit,” said Faisal Salama, Tulkarem’s deputy governor. “For hours, they were herded into public spaces and treated like criminals.”
Salama said the mass arrests are part of an eight-month Israeli military campaign in the city and nearby refugee camps, where residents face weekly incursions and widespread home demolitions.
Israel’s assault on occupied West Bank: ‘Classic tools of collective punishment’
Suleiman Basharat, director of the Yabous Center for Strategic Studies, says Israel’s recent mass arrests in the West Bank city of Tulkarem resembled tactics employed during the first Intifada in 1987.
“Mass detentions, closures, and restrictions on movement – these are classic tools of collective punishment,” he said. “The army hopes to extract intelligence while intimidating the population into silence.”
He added the campaign also serves to “train troops in urban operations and create deterrence before any new attacks occur”.
