Israeli forces take over homes, impose lockdown on West Bank’s Qabatiya
Military vehicles operate during an Israeli raid in Qabatiya, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
Israeli forces have carried out mass arrests and forced dozens of families from their homes in the town of Qabatiya in the occupied West Bank, on the second day of a sweeping military operation ordered by Israel’s defence minister.
Israeli forces sealed off entrances to Qabatiya while rounding up and interrogating dozens of residents on Saturday, local sources told Al Jazeera. They converted several homes into military interrogation centres, displacing their occupants, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency.
The Israeli army confirmed the operation on Saturday, with Defence Minister Israel Katz saying in a statement that they had imposed “a lockdown and a complete cordon” around Qabatiya.
Earlier Israel’s Army Radio reported that the town is subject to a “full curfew”.
The crackdown follows an order by Katz to “act forcefully … against the village of Qabatiya”, where he claims a Palestinian alleged of carrying out a stabbing and car-ramming attack in northern Israel hails from.
In a statement on Friday, Israel’s military said it had deployed troops from multiple divisions, along with border police and members of the Shin Bet security service, into Qabatiya. It said forces had raided the attack suspect’s home and were preparing to demolish it.
Rights groups have long condemned Israel’s practice of demolishing the family homes of Palestinians accused of attacks against Israelis, describing it as an illegal form of collective punishment.
Israel’s military claimed its forces would “scan additional locations in the village” and “work to arrest wanted individuals and locate weapons”.
