Israeli forces detain 20 Palestinians during raids in West Bank

Israeli forces detain 20 Palestinians during raids in West Bank
Israeli forces detained 20 Palestinians, including six children, across the West Bank after conducting raids overnight into the early hours of Monday.
2 min read
03 April, 2018
Israeli soldiers carry out extortionate violent tactics in the occupied West Bank [Getty]
Israeli forces detained 20 Palestinians, including children, across the West Bank and East Jerusalem during multiple overnight raids on Monday.

Israeli police carried out a number of raids across East Jerusalem, arresting 14 Palestinians, including six minors aged between 13 and 17 according to the Palestinian Prisoner Society. 

They had also detained three Palestinians from the northern West Bank district of Nablus and detained two Palestinians in Ramallah, including a child. The 13-year-old child was in Turmusayya, northeast of the city when he was taken by Israeli forces and an adult was detained in the northwest village of Deir Ghassaneh.

Raids also took place in Bethlehem where Israeli forces detained one person from Beit Fajjar town, south of the holy Christian city.

Raids are often carried out on occupied territory by Israeli forces, most times without an obvious purpose, such as Monday’s raid. Israelis often kill Palestinians during raids when they search for suspects.

In February, Israeli armed forces shot and killed a Palestinian during a raid in the northern West Bank, only to later realise that he is innocent of a settler shooting after his death.

A medical source named the deceased as Khaled Tayeh, a man in his 20s who had been shot in the chest.

Israeli forces had apparently entered the city to search for a Palestinian who stabbed and killed an Israeli settler near the major West Bank settlement of Ariel in Nablus.

The identity of the dead man did not match that of the suspect given by Israeli authorities.

All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are deemed illegal under international law and viewed as a major obstacle to peace.