Israeli Forces Detain 30 Palestinians in East Jerusalem, West Bank Raids

Rasa - Israeli forces detained at least 30 Palestinians in overnight raids between Monday night and Tuesday morning in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian and Israeli sources.

News ID: 430781

Date: 04 July 2017 - 23:24

RNA - Israeli forces raided the Suwwana neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City and detained seven young Palestinian men from their homes, identified by locals as Majdi Abu Ghazala, Fadi al-Kilani, Mahmoud Mshasha, Muhammad Abu Lafi, Asaad al-Ashab, Ahmad al-Ashab, and Kamal al-Imam, Ma'an reported.

Family members of the detainees said they believed their relatives were targeted for participating in the funeral for 24-year-old Ali Abu Gharbiyeh on Sunday, which devolved into clashes with Israeli forces, who injured at least 35 mourners with crowd control measures and detained at least one person.

According to a statement from the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) three additional Palestinians were also detained in Jerusalem, identified as Sufian Mahmoud, Ahmad al-Julani, and Marwan Salim.

It remained unclear if the three were also detained in Suwwana and if their arrest was also related to Abu Gharbiyeh's funeral.

An Israeli police spokesperson could not immediately reached for comment on the raids in the Old City.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army carried out multiple predawn detention raids across the occupied West Bank.

In the southern Hebron district, Israeli forces raided the town of Deir Samit and detained 37-year-old Jawad al-Hroub, whose father Issa -- previously identified as Omar, was shot dead in 2015 after allegedly attempting to carry out a car ramming attack on Israeli forces, according to locals sources and PPS.

An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed that one person was detained in Deir Samit.

Israeli news sites also said that Israeli confiscated an unspecified sum of money and a car during the raid, as the Israeli army claimed that al-Hroub “obtained them from Hamas.”

Locals sources in Hebron city said that Israeli forces detained Khairi Abu Hadid and his four sons Fahd, Muhammad, Amir, and Nimr after raiding their home in the city, which was confirmed in the PPS statement.

An Israeli army spokesperson only confirmed three detentions in Hebron city.

In the town of Beit Ummar north of Hebron, local activist Muhammad Ayyad Awwad and PPS reported that Israeli forces detained 21-year-old Ahmad Hussein Sabarneh after raiding his family home. An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed one detention in Beit Ummar.

In the Hebron-area town of Surif, local sources and PPS said that Mujahid al-Hur was detained from his home. The Israeli army claimed he was a “Hamas operative.”

Elsewhere in the Hebron district, Israeli forces detained one person in the town of Tarqumiya, according to the army spokesperson.

In the northern occupied West Bank district of Tulkarem, PPS said that Israeli forces detained Waad Ghassan Salim, 24, Ahmad Abu Neimah, 32, Adham Azim, Wahdi Muhammad Jirmi, 25, and Yahya Jamal Swayy.

The Israeli army only confirmed three detentions in the district, saying that two were detained in Tulkarem city and one in Tulkarem refugee camp.

The Israeli army said that two Palestinians were detained in the village of Zabuba in the Jenin district, identified by PPS as Muhammad Fouad Jaradat, 21, and Mahmoud Majid Abu al-Hassan, 21.

In the Nablus district, PPS said that Israeli forces detained Wahid Ghassan Jibarah, 27, and Rafi Turki in the village of Salim. However, according to the Israeli army spokesperson, three Palestinians were detained in Salim.

The PPS statement highlighted that Israeli forces also briefly detained a 30-year-old woman from Kafr Qalil in the Nablus district, identified as Rima Mansour.

Israeli raids in Palestinian towns, villages, and refugee camps are a daily occurrence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with a weekly average of 95 search and detention raids carried out over the course 2016, according to UN documentation.

According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, there were 6,200 Palestinians in Israeli prisons as of May, including 300 minors.

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