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BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces detained at least 18 Palestinians during raids across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, security sources and the Israeli army said.

Palestinian security sources told Ma’an that detention raids were reported in East Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Qalqiliya, Nablus and Hebron areas.

Amir Khalid Jaffal, Ahmad Radi Erekat, and his brother Mahmoud were detained in Abu Dis east of Jerusalem, the sources said, while in the village of Nabi Saleh west of Ramallah, Manal Tamimi was detained from her family home.

Twelve-year-old Awni Ahmad Taqatqa and 16-year-old Mahmoud Abdullah Taqatqa were detained from the town of Beit Fajjar south of Bethlehem, security sources said.

In the northern West Bank, Yousif Sweidan was detained from Azzun in Qalqiliya district and Jasir Fatih Qadus was detained from Burin near Nablus.

Israeli forces also raided Beit Ummar north of Hebron and detained Jihad Muqbil, sources added.

Tariq Bilalou was detained from the northernmost West Bank city of Jenin, while three others were detained in the town of Yaabad to the south, identified as Muhammad Bassam Hamarsha, Fadil Turkuman and Amjad Hamarsha.

Israeli forces on Monday night also detained a Palestinian National Security colonel at the Zaatara military checkpoint south of Nablus, the sources said, identifying him as Adel Bakir.

An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed 18 detentions made in total in the occupied West Bank, the majority of whom were detained for "suspected illegal activity."

Israeli military forces routinely conduct search and detention raids across the occupied Palestinian territory -- including in Area A which is under full Palestinian jurisdiction.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has documented a weekly after of 87 raids since the start of this year.
As of February, 7,000 Palestinians were held in Israeli prisons, 406 of them are children, according to prisoners’ rights group Addameer.
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by IMEMC News

Israeli soldiers have kidnapped, earlier on Tuesday, at least, twenty Palestinians, including two women, in different parts of the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) has reported that the dozens of soldiers invaded the northern West Bank district of Jenin, stormed and ransacked homes, and kidnapped five Palestinians, including one woman.

The kidnapped have been identified as Amjad Taiseer Hamarsha, Fadel Mahmoud Turkman and Mohammad Bassam Hamarsha, all are 18-19 years old, in addition to Tareq Bilalou and a woman, identified as Roweida Abu Mweis, 42.

The soldiers also kidnapped Hammoudi Obeid, 25, from the Jenin refugee camp, after stopping him at a military roadblock near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem.

In the southern West Bank district of Hebron, the soldiers kidnapped four Palestinians, identified as Omar Hazem Bader, Jihad Raed Faisal, 18, Mohammad Ramadan Abu Ramouz and Faisal Mohammad Badawi, 63.

Also in Hebron, undercover Israeli soldiers, driving a civilian car with Israeli license plates, infiltrated into Ras al-Joura area, near the city’s northern entrance, stopped a Palestinian car and forced all passengers out, before kidnapping one Palestinian and confiscating the car.

The soldiers interrogated the Palestinians while inspecting their ID cards, and drove away heading towards bypass road #35.

The soldiers also invaded and searched many homes in Abu Dis town, near occupied Jerusalem, and kidnapped three Palestinians identified as Amir Khaled Jaffal, Ahmad Radi Erekat and his brother Mahmoud.

In addition, the soldiers kidnapped a young Palestinian woman, trying to cross the Qalandia terminal, north of occupied Jerusalem; the army claims she “carried a knife.”

In Qalqilia, in the northern part of the West Bank, the soldiers kidnapped two brothers identified as Ramzi, 31, and Yousef Sweidan, 31.

In Bethlehem, the soldiers invaded Beit Fajjar town, and kidnapped ‘Awni Ahmad Taqatqa, 13, and Mahmoud Abdullah Taqatqa, 18.

The soldiers also invaded Iraq-Burin town, in the northern West Bank district of Nablus, and kidnapped a Palestinian, identified as Jasser Faleh Qadous.

In Ramallah, the soldiers kidnapped a Palestinian woman, identified as Manal Tamimi, 40, from her home in Nabi Saleh town.

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