Today, Thursday, the Israeli occupation forces carried out a number of incursions into towns in the West Bank, causing several injuries, while arresting 25 Palestinians, including brothers and former prisoners.
Eyewitnesses said that an Israeli army force stormed the city of Al-Bireh, adjacent to Ramallah, stopped vehicles and searched shops, amid confrontations with dozens of residents.
Witnesses indicated that confrontations broke out between dozens of Palestinians and the Israeli army, during which live and metal bullets and tear gas bombs were used.
For its part, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said that a Palestinian child and a teenager were injured by occupation forces’ bullets during their storming of the town of Birzeit, in the northern West Bank, and that one of them was seriously injured.
Raids and injuries
The Israeli occupation forces had raided the towns of Jaffna and Birzeit with a number of military vehicles, and were stationed near the entrance to Birzeit University. They stormed one of the shops, confiscated the ID cards of its workers and detained them, before withdrawing from the place.
The Ministry of Health also reported that 3 Palestinians were injured by Israeli occupation forces’ bullets during their storming of the city of Qalqilya for more than 3 hours.
The occupation forces had fired live bullets, stun grenades and gas bombs towards school students, which led to clashes in the neighborhood and injuries. Local sources reported that the occupation forces arrested two young men and a boy before withdrawing from the city.
Israeli forces also raided and searched Palestinian homes in the towns of Qabatiya and Al-Shuhada near Jenin (north), amid the outbreak of armed clashes and confrontations with dozens of Palestinians.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that the forces arrested at least 3 citizens.
They indicated that a citizen was injured by live bullets in the abdomen and was taken for treatment to Jenin Governmental Hospital.
Israeli forces also stormed the city of Jericho (east), and neighborhoods of the city of Ramallah (central), and the city of Hebron (south), and arrested a number of citizens, according to witnesses.
They pointed out that the Israeli army used live and metal bullets and gas bombs in confrontations with Palestinians in several locations in the West Bank.
Occupation forces storm the Jaidi neighborhood in the city of Qalqilya in the West Bank pic.twitter.com/rZ3lmTRc26
– Tel Aviv Tribune Egypt (@AJA_Egypt) May 9, 2024
Arrests and escalation
The number of detainees in the occupied West Bank has risen to 8,665 Palestinians since October 7, after the Israeli army arrested 25 Palestinians last night.
The Prisoners’ and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs Authority (governmental) and the Prisoners’ Club (Ahli) said in a joint statement that the total number of arrests after October 7 reached more than 8,665.
The arrests were concentrated in the Bethlehem Governorate, while the rest of the arrests were distributed among the governorates of: Ramallah, Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, Salfit, and Jerusalem.
According to the two institutions, the arrests were distributed among the governorates of Salfit, Nablus, and Jenin (north), Ramallah (central), Bethlehem and Hebron (south), and Jerusalem.
In parallel with its war on Gaza 215 days ago, the Israeli army escalated its operations in the West Bank, leaving, in addition to the arrests, 497 dead and about 4,950 wounded, according to data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health as of yesterday evening, Wednesday.
Israel is waging a devastating war on Gaza that has left tens of thousands dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and massive destruction and famine that has claimed the lives of children and the elderly, according to Palestinian and UN data.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
