Description

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces detained an estimated 24 Palestinians, including a former minister, during predawn detention raids across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, locals and Palestinian security sources said on Wednesday.

Local sources in the northernmost West Bank district of Jenin told Ma’an that Israeli troops raided the city of Jenin and detained Hamas member and former Palestinian Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs Wasfi Qabaha from his home.

Another Hamas leader was detained in the city of Tulkarem, identified by the Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS) as Raafat Jamil Naseef, 50.

The Hamas movement confirmed on social media on Wednesday that Qabaha and Naseef had been detained.

Israeli forces also raided the village of Kafr Dan in northwestern Jenin district, detaining Yousif Khalid Turkman. PPS said in a statement that Luay Nasseriddin Tafish had also been detained in the Jenin district.

In the central West Bank, Israeli forces stormed the town of Birzeit and detained Abd al-Rahman Nasim Salim, 18, PPS said. The organization added that another Palestinian, identified as Wahid Omar Tawfiq Mousa, was detained in the Ramallah district.

PPS also reported three detentions in the Bethlehem district during predawn raids. The organization said Israeli troops raided the town of Beit Fajjar south of Bethlehem and detained Alaa Muhammad Taqatqa, 21, also summoning Taqatqa’s brother and another teenager for questioning.

Israeli forces also detained Mustafa Jamal al-Badan, 17, and Ammar Yasser Rabaiyya, 17, from the village of Tuqu east of Bethlehem and summoned another young man for questioning.

In the southern West Bank district of Hebron, Israeli forces detained at least six Palestinians, local sources said.

A local activist from the town of Beit Ummar north of Hebron city, Muhammad Ayyad Awad, said that Israeli forces raided several neighborhoods of the town, ransacking homes, before they detained Muhammad Issa Bahar, 52, and Muhammad Yousif Bahar, 16.

Awad added that Israeli troops also ransacked a bakery belonging to the Bahar family. PPS reported that Israeli forces also detained Wahdi Ibrahim Bahar, 17.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Muhammad al-Jamal, 20, Rami Yousif al-Khatib, 24, and Izzat Muhammad al-Atrash were detained in raids on their homes in Hebron city before dawn.

Earlier on Tuesday night, Israeli forces stormed the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron, detaining Adib Abu Eisha and his son Rami, 16. Family members told Ma’an that a group of extremist Israeli settlers broke into the house and assaulted family members before the two were detained.

In occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli forces detained Huthayfa Badir in the town of Abu Dis east of the Old City, as well as Fathi Nasser and Abd al-Rahim Barbar elsewhere in East Jerusalem, PPS said.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that 16 Palestinians had been detained overnight. She listed three detained in the city of Jenin, one northwest of Jenin, one in the city of Tulkarem, one northeast of Qalqiliya and one north of Ramallah.

In the southern West Bank, the army spokesperson said two Palestinians were detained west of the city of Bethlehem, one southwest of Bethlehem, two southeast of Bethlehem, one northeast of Bethlehem, and three in the city of Hebron.

Israeli forces carry out overnight detention raids on a quasi-daily basis in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, 7,000 Palestinians were currently held in Israeli prisons. Addameer estimates that 40 percent of the male Palestinian population has been detained by Israel at some point in their lives.
_____

by IMEMC News

Israeli soldiers kidnapped, earlier on Wednesday, at least six Palestinians, including two teenagers, in different parts of the occupied West Bank, after invading their homes and searched them.

Mohammad Awad, of the Popular committee in Beit Ummar town, north of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, said many military vehicles invaded various neighborhoods in the town, especially downtown area, ‘Erq al-Latoun and ath-Thaher, and kidnapped Mohammad Issa Bahar, 52, and Wahbi Ibrahim Bahar, 16.

Bahar was kidnapped from a bakery where he works, after the soldiers assaulted him, causing cuts and bruises. The soldiers also searched his home, in addition to the homes of Bahar and Sa’id Mustafa ‘Aadi.

In addition, the soldiers invaded Beit Fajjar town, south of Bethlehem, searched many homes and kidnapped a young man, identified as Ala’ Mohammad Taqatqa, 21.

The soldiers also summoned two children, identified as Abdul-Qader Sultan Taqatqa, 15, and Issam Mohammad Taqatqa, 15, for interrogation in the Etzion military base, south of Bethlehem.

Two Palestinians, identified as Jamal al-Badan, 17, and Ammar Yasser al-‘Amour, 17, were also summoned for interrogation, after the soldiers invaded and searched their families’ homes in Teqoua’ town, east of Bethlehem.

Furthermore, several military vehicles invaded the northern West Bank city of Jenin, and Kar Dan village, west of the city, and kidnapped a former legislator and two young men, after searching their homes.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) said the soldiers kidnapped legislator Wasfi Kabaha, 52, from his home in the al-Bustan neighborhood in Jenin, and Luay Tafish, 28.

The PPS added that more than sixteen army jeeps also invaded Kafr Dan village, before the soldiers searched homes and kidnapped Yousef Turkman, 25.

It is worth mentioning that legislator Kabaha was kidnapped and imprisoned at least nine times, spending more than fourteen years in prison, including being repeatedly held for extended periods under Administrative Detention order, without charges or trial.

Features