Israeli forces arrested 3,200 Palestinians since October 7 in West Bank

A Palestinian group says the Israeli forces have arrested more Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, bringing the total number of detainees to more than 3,000 since the outbreak of the weeks-long regime’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“The occupation forces arrested at least 20 Palestinians, on Saturday-Sunday night, from cities and towns in the West Bank, including East al-Quds,” the Palestinian Prisoners Club said in a statement on Sunday. “The total number of detainees rose to 3,200 Palestinians since Oct. 7,” it added.

According to the group’s president, Abdallah Zughary, many of these detainees have been placed in administrative detention without charge.

“Since 7 October, there have been no visits by families or lawyers to prisoners. And six prisoners have died.” He accuses Israel of using the justice system as a “revenge policy”.

The regime forces stormed villages and towns throughout the West Bank late on Saturday, accompanied by arrest and shooting and gas bombs on Palestinians.

Eleven Palestinians were detained during an army raid of old and new Askar refugee camps, East of the Northern West Bank city of Nablus, and three others turned themselves in at an army checkpoint near Nablus after Israel held family members as hostages to force them to turn themselves in.

Detentions were also reported in the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin, and the southern city of al-Khalil. The Israeli forces also arrested Palestinians from Qalqilya and Ein al-Beida villages east of Tubas, after raiding their homes.

The raids come despite an ongoing four-day truce between Israel and Palestinian resistance group Hamas in the war-torn Gaza Strip, during which at least 50 Israeli captives are expected to be freed in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners, all women and children.

Seven weeks of relentless Israeli attacks on the coastal territory killed nearly 15,000 Palestinians, more than a third of them children, and displaced at least 1.5 million, according to Gaza officials.

Over the same period, more than 230 Palestinians, including 52 children, in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian health ministry.