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Ammon News - Israeli occupation forces predawn Wednesday detained 14 Palestinians in multiple raids across the occupied West Bank, according to security and local sources.

They said that the occupation forces rounded up five Palestinians, all members of the al-Golani family, from the Shufat refugee camp, north of Jerusalem.

The occupation forces re-arrested two former prisoners after breaking into the houses of their families in Hizma town, northeast of Jerusalem.

The raid triggered confrontations, during which the soldiers opened fire towards local youths attempting to block their entry.

In Bethlehem district, the sources confirmed a raid in Husan town, west of Bethlehem, resulting in the detention of two.

In Hebron district, the gun-toting soldiers barged their way into al-Arroub refugee camp and Halhul town, north of the southern West Bank city, tampered with the contents of several houses and detained three.

They rounded up another from Dura town, southwest of Hebron.

Meanwhile, the soldiers showed up at a house in the northern West Bank city of Qalqiliya, muscled inside, conducted a thorough search and eventually rounded up another.

Several other raids were conducted in the city of Nablus, Azzun and Kafr Qaddum towns, east of Qalqiliya, as well as the al-Far‘a refugee camp, south of Tubas.

During the raid in al-Far‘a camp, military bulldozers razed streets and the entrances of stores, causing extensive damage.

Israeli forces frequently raid Palestinian houses almost on a daily basis across the West Bank on the pretext of searching for "wanted" Palestinians, triggering clashes with residents.

These raids, which take place also in areas under the full control of the Palestinian Authority, are conducted with no need for a search warrant, whenever and wherever the military chooses in keeping with its sweeping arbitrary powers.

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

According to the latest figures from Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, there are currently 9,100 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 51 female prisoners and 200 children.

This number includes approximately 3,558 Palestinians placed under “administrative detention”, that allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable intervals ranging between three and six months based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.

Mass arrest of Palestinians is nothing new. According to a 2017 report by Addameer, over the past 50 years, more than 800,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned or detained by Israel, this figure is now believed to be closer to 1 million. This means that about 40% of Palestinian men and boys living under military occupation have been deprived of their freedom. Almost every Palestinian family has suffered the imprisonment of a loved one.

WAFA