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Update 9/1/2016

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces reportedly assaulted two Palestinian prisoners before detaining and transferring them to Israel’s Etzion prison, as one was reportedly shot with a live bullet in the leg, and the other was beaten in front of his family, according to a statement released Thursday by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).

PPS lawyer Jacqueline Fararjeh visited the two prisoners who were assaulted, stating that one detainee, 18-year-old Yousef Wajeeh Thawabta from the village of Beit Fajjar in the Bethlehem district of the occupied West Bank, said that Israeli soldiers shot him in the leg with a live bullet, and the other with a dumdum -- a type of bullet which expands upon hitting its target.

Thawabta had previously spent one and a half years in Israeli prison.
Meanwhile, Fararjeh said 19-year-old Muhammad Hamza al-Kurdi from Bethlehem’s Aida refugee camp reported being assaulted and “violently beaten” in front of his family by Israeli soldiers at the time they detained him. Al-Kurdi is also a former detainee who spent two and a half years in Israeli prison.

The statement added that the court sessions for both Thawabta and al-Kurdi were scheduled to be held on Thursday in Israel’s Ofer prison.

Palestinians routinely report mistreatment during detention raids, with Israeli forces commonly assaulting and beating Palestinian youths. Israeli forces typically detain Palestinians at night, sometimes quietly entering Palestinian homes, while other times hundreds of Israeli soldiers enter the communities, often erupting into clashes between the soldiers and Palestinian youths.
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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces raided several areas of the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem overnight Tuesday, detaining at least 18 Palestinians.

In the village of Salim in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus, Israeli forces detained a former prisoner identified by locals as Musab Aked Ishtayyeh, 25.

An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed the detention, claiming that Ishtayyeh was a suspected Hamas operative and detained for involvement in “terror activity.”

Israeli forces also detained three residents of the Nablus-area Askar refugee camp, Nabil al-Sirfi, Ahmad al-Zaghal, and Muntaser Arayshi at the Huwwara checkpoint south of Nablus city, locals said.

Three former prisoners were detained from the southern district of Bethlehem, identified as Youssef Luay Thawabteh in the village of Beit Fajjar, while Muhammad al-Masaid and Muhammad Hamzeh al-Kurdi were detained in the Ayda refugee camp. The three detentions were confirmed by the Israeli army.

In the Bethlehem district village of Dar Salah, locals said Israeli forces also detained Taysir Ahmad Salim while he was on his way to his work in Israel.

In the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya, Israeli forces detained Jamil Mheisen, local sources said.

Israeli forces also shut down a Palestinian radio station for allegedly broadcasting programs "inciting" against Israel early Wednesday morning in Dura City in the southern district of Hebron, detaining five of the station’s employees.

Meanwhile, an Israeli army spokesperson informed Ma’an of four additional detentions, one in the village of Asira al-Qibliya in the Nablus district, an alleged suspected Hamas operative in Hebron City, and two in the Hebron area village of al-Samu.

Israeli forces raid the occupied Palestinian territory on a near-nightly basis, with an average of 71 raids each week in 2016, according to UN documentation.

According to prisoners rights group Addameer, 7,000 Palestinians were held in Israeli prisons as of July. The group estimates that 40 percent of Palestinian men have been detained by Israel at some point in their lives.

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