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BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces detained at least seven Palestinians during predawn raids Sunday across the occupied West Bank.

According to a statement from the Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS), three were detained from the central occupied West Bank district of Ramallah, identified as 28-year-old journalist Musab Ibrahim Said, Usama Fuqaha, and a 24-year-old woman, Batul al-Ramahi.

Locals said Israeli forces raided the town of Birzeit north of Ramallah and detained Said after ransacking his home.

A few kilometers to the south in the town of Surda, Israeli forces detained al-Ramahi from her home.

Al-Fuqaha, a student and member of Birzeit University’s student union, was detained from his home in Ramallah city.

In the central Jerusalem district, PPS said that two young men were detained in the village of Biddu, identified as Muhtadi Khalid Ayyash and Salih Mansour.

The Israeli army confirmed the five detentions in the Ramallah and Jerusalem districts.

According to PPS, Israeli forces also detained 27-year-old Ali Muhammad Saada in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus, while Hamza Mahmoud Jarrar, a resident of the northern Tulkarem district, was detained while visiting Israel.

Israeli forces carry out detention raids across the occupied Palestinian territory on a near-nightly basis, with the UN recording an average of 95 weekly raids in the West Bank in 2016, and 73 weekly raids on average thus far in 2017.

According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, 6,500 Palestinians were held in Israeli prisons as of January, 53 of whom were women.
Meanwhile, some 420 Palestinians were detained throughout the month of February alone -- including 70 minors and 22 women and girls.

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