On Saturday, Israeli forces sealed off the entrances to Qabatiya and rounded up and interrogated dozens of residents, local sources told Journalists
By Owoseni Martins
Israeli forces carried out mass arrests and forcibly displaced dozens of families from their homes in the town of Qabatiya in the occupied West Bank on the second day of a large-scale military operation ordered by Israel’s defence minister.
On Saturday, Israeli forces sealed off the entrances to Qabatiya and rounded up and interrogated dozens of residents, local sources told Journalists.
According to the Palestinian Wafa news agency, several homes were taken over and turned into military interrogation centres, forcing the residents to leave.
Israel’s Army Radio reported that the town has been placed under a “full curfew.”
The crackdown follows an order by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz to “act forcefully … against the village of Qabatiya,” which he says is the hometown of a Palestinian suspected of carrying out a stabbing and car-ramming attack in northern Israel.
In a statement on Friday, Israel’s military said it had deployed troops from multiple divisions, along with border police and members of the Shin Bet security service, to Qabatiya. It added that forces had raided the home of the suspected attacker and were preparing to demolish it.
Human rights groups have long condemned Israel’s policy of demolishing the family homes of Palestinians accused of attacks on Israelis, calling it an illegal form of collective punishment.
The military said its forces would “scan additional locations in the village” and “work to arrest wanted individuals and locate weapons.”
“There is a sense of fear among people in the town,” one resident told Newsmen. “There are Israeli threats and Israeli incitement.”
Israeli military raids on Saturday also spread to other parts of the occupied West Bank, including several villages around Ramallah and Hebron, according to Wafa. The news agency reported that Israeli forces assaulted and arrested eight people from the towns of Dura, Abda and Imreish near Hebron.
Israeli military incursions and attacks across the occupied West Bank have become a near-daily occurrence during Israel’s war on Gaza.
Since October 7, 2023, Israeli authorities have arrested nearly 21,000 Palestinians. As of December 1, about 9,300 Palestinians were being held in Israeli prisons, with more than one-third detained without charge.
Reports indicate that Palestinian detainees have been subjected to torture, sexual abuse, and, in some cases, have died while in custody.
Join us on our WhatsApp Platform @KOIKIMEDIA NEWS YOUR PAGE
KoikiMedia Bringing the World 🌎 Closer to Your Doorstep