Dissatisfied With House Searches With The Excuse Of 'looking For Fugitives', Israeli Troops Also Detain 5 Palestinians In The West Bank

Israeli army illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Israel Defense Forces)

JAKARTA - Israeli forces have detained at least five Palestinians from the West Bank, according to security forces and local residents.

They said Israeli troops showed up at a house in the town of Kaffr Qallil, south of Nablus, forced their way in and carried out a thorough search, ravaging the house before eventually detaining the two brothers, according to the Wafa news agency quoted via Antara, Friday, July 29.

The Israeli soldiers also broke into the nearby town of Tell. They arrested another resident and ransacked his family's home. In the southern part of the West Bank, Israeli forces again detained two people from the city of Hebron, near the Abu Sneineh area.

Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers also raided the village of Al-Maniya, east of Bethlehem. They broke into a number of houses belonging to the Jabarin family, and brutally interrogated the occupants.

Israeli troops break into homes and arrest Palestinians daily under the pretext of looking for Palestinians who are "fugitives", sparking clashes with residents.

This raid by Israeli forces which was also carried out in the territory that became the Palestinian Authority was carried out without a warrant. Israeli forces can conduct searches anytime and anywhere without a warrant.

Under Israeli military law, army commanders have full executive, legislative and judicial authority over the 3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank. Meanwhile, the Palestinians have no say in how this authority is exercised.

According to the latest figures from the Addameer Palestinian Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association, there are currently 4,650 political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 180 children and 30 women prisoners.

This figure includes 650 Palestinians in "administrative custody", which allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable periods ranging between three and six months based on undisclosed evidence. Even a prisoner's lawyer was barred from taking part, according to Addameer.

Mass detention of Palestinians is nothing new. According to a 2017 Addameer report, over 50 years, more than 800,000 Palestinians were imprisoned or detained by Israel. This figure is believed to be at one million today.

This means that about 40 percent of Palestinian men and boys living under military occupation have been deprived of their liberty. Almost every Palestinian family has suffered from the detention of their loved ones.