Description

QALQILIYA (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces carried out multiple raids across the occupied West Bank before dawn on Thursday, detaining at least 12 Palestinians including a formerly incarcerated hunger striker, and shut down a print shop in the city of Qalqiliya that the Israeli army accused of distributing “incitement" materials.

Local sources told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers confiscated prints and printmaking equipment from the Asayel Yafa print shop, before sealing the gates of the building and detaining its owner Saber Daoud.

Meanwhile, several Israeli military vehicles raided several houses in Qalqiliya late Wednesday, including Daoud’s home as well as the house of Bassam Abu Shareb, local sources said.

According to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS), Daoud, 42, is a former prisoner who has spent four-and-a-half years in Israeli prisons.

Meanwhile, clashes erupted between Palestinian youths and Israeli forces in several neighborhoods across Qalqiliya following the military raids, with no injuries reported.

An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed Daoud's detention and the closure of the print shop, saying it came as part of an “ongoing effort against incitement.”

She said the institution was “suspected of distributing incitement materials,” without providing further details. She did not confirm reports of the clashes.

In recent months, Israel has targeted Palestinian media institutions and civilians, including activists and journalists, alleging that a wave of unrest that swept the occupied Palestinian territory in October 2015 was encouraged largely by "incitement."

In raids in the northern district of Tulkarem, Israeli forces detained five Palestinians, identified by PPS as Sanad Riyad Zuhdi Abu Shanab, 18, brothers Ahmad and Adham Dares al-Jayyusi, Fawwaz Rashid al-Jayyusi, and Tareq Muhammad Abu Laimun.

An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed two detentions in the Tulkarem district -- one in Dhinnaba and one in Kur.

From the Hebron district in the southern occupied West Bank, Israeli forces detained Zaid Majed Muhammad al-Jubeh, 23, in Hebron City and Ahmad Abu Judeh in nearby Yatta, according to PPS.

Israeli forces also raided and searched houses in the village of Beit Kahel north of Hebron City.

An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed a detention was made in the city of Hebron and said another was carried out in the nearby village of Beit Ummar.

Israeli authorities also briefly detained former prisoner and famed hunger striker Muhammad Allan in the village of Einabus in the northern Nablus district.

Locals told Ma’an that Israeli forces raided Allan’s house at 3 a.m. on Thursday.

He was taken to the Huwwara military camp in southern Nablus and was released hours later after being interrogated. Allan had rejected a notice to meet with Israeli intelligence several days prior, according to the sources.

Allan was released from Israeli custody several months ago after a 66-day hunger strike in protest of being imprisoned by Israel without trial or charge.

In cases of high-profile hunger strikes against administrative detention, Israeli authorities will agree to release prisoners, often waiting until the 11th hour when detainees are expected to die at any moment. However, as in the case with Allan, many former hunger strikers are re-detained after their release.

According to the Israeli army spokesperson, another detention was made in the Nablus district in Balata refugee camp. She also informed Ma’an another Palestinian was detained in the Jerusalem district village of Qatanna.

Israeli raids in Palestinian towns, villages, and refugee camps are a daily occurrence in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.

According to prisoners rights group Addameer, 7,000 Palestinians were held in Israeli prisons as of October, including some 720 under administrative detention. The organization estimates that 40 percent of Palestinian men have been detained by Israel at some point in their lives.

Features