Description

Photo:
alestinian prisoners walk through the yard of Megiddo prison. (AFP/Menahem Kahana, File)
_____

by IMEMC News & Agencies

Israeli forces abducted at least 16 Palestinians in predawn raids across the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.

Hebron locals told Ma'an that Israeli forces stormed the city's Jabal al-Sharif neighborhood and detained Mahran Azzan Dandis after storming and ransacking his family home.

In Beit Ummar, to Hebron's north, Israeli forces were reported to have taken 16-year-old c into custody.

Muhammad Ayyad Awad, a spokesperson for a popular committee in Beit Ummar, said: "More than 30 soldiers broke into the family home, pointing their guns at family members before they assaulted the father, mother and 11-year-old son Tariq, and then detained 16-year-old Amr."

Awad added that Israeli soldiers also stormed the home of Sadiq Mahmoud Ikhlayyil and delivered a summons to his son, Muhammad, 22, ordering him to go to the Gush Etzion military base for questioning.

In Nablus, in the northern West Bank, Israeli forces kidnapped two young Palestinian men after raiding their homes. Palestinian security sources identified them as 23-year-old Khalid Nidal al-ShafiI and Abdullah al-Ikir, 32.

Meanwhile, in Jenin district, Israeli forces also abducted five young Palestinian men. Security sources identified three of the detainees as Abd al-Wahhab Muhammad Hussein from Bartaa, Yazan Khalid Qabaha from Tural al-Gharbiyya, and Rabee Eihab Nafi Deihan from Qabatya.

Late Monday night, Israeli forces were also reported to have taken 17-year-old Rabee Eyhab al-Dihan from Qabatya, near Jenin, at Huwwara checkpoint, to the south of Nablus.

A few kilometers south, Israeli troops stationed at Zatara checkpoint kidnapped 27-year-old Wathiq Mahmoud Sharqiyya, from al-Yamoun, to the west of Jenin.

An Israeli army spokesperson only confirmed only 11 such detentions overnight Monday, saying that one Palestinian was detained in Ramallah district, one in Tulkarem, two in Nablus, three in Bethlehem, and four in Hebron.

She said that one of the Palestinians detained in Nablus was a "Hamas operative," while the others were detained for "illegal activities."

Israeli forces have detained hundreds of Palestinians since a wave of unrest swept the occupied Palestinian territory at the beginning of October.

Palestinian prisoners' rights group Addameer estimated in December that Israel was holding 6,800 political prisoners, including 470 child prisoners.

Features