Prisoners' Club: Israeli Army Arrests Hundreds of Palestinians Weekly in the West Bank

The Palestinian Prisoners' Club revealed on Friday that the Israeli army arrests hundreds of Palestinians weekly from various parts of the occupied West Bank, interrogates them, and mistreats them, before releasing the majority later. The army acknowledged the arrest of 40 Palestinians during the past week.

Hours earlier, the army announced in a statement that it had arrested 40 Palestinians across the West Bank during the past week, including during the military operation that began on Wednesday in northern West Bank and is still ongoing.

The statement claimed that 12 of the detainees are from the "Hamas" movement.

The club (non-governmental) stated in a statement that hundreds of Palestinians are subjected to arrest, field interrogation, and mistreatment almost weekly, with the majority being released later after several hours or a few days.

In this regard, Amani Sarhanah, the media director at the Prisoners' Club, told Anadolu Agency that "the army only announces actual cases of arrest, meaning those detainees it keeps in its prisons and detention centers, and then issues rulings against them."

Sarhanah added: "These numbers do not include all those whose homes were raided, their contents vandalized, mistreated, and arrested for many hours or days."

She continued: "While the army announces the arrest of only dozens during the past week, we documented the arrest of 162 Palestinians in Tubas Governorate alone during the ongoing aggression since Wednesday."

Sarhanah pointed out that the Israeli field interrogation usually involves severe beating, incitement, and threats, in addition to vandalizing home contents and stealing money from them.

Since Wednesday, the Israeli army has continued its military operation in the city of Tubas and several surrounding towns, during which the forces raided a large number of homes and turned some into military barracks, in addition to vandalizing properties.

While the Israeli army spoke of a security aspect of the operation, which is "eliminating saboteurs," according to its expression, Palestinian observers warned of undisclosed goals of the aggression, which include expanding settlements and pushing towards the displacement of Palestinians.

In Jenin (north), the Israeli army executed two young men on Thursday after they surrendered, as video footage showed the army surrounding a building in Jenin city, then soldiers fired at close range at two Palestinians who emerged from the house with their hands raised, resulting in their deaths.

The army stated in a statement that it is conducting a field investigation into the circumstances of the incident, claiming that the two young men were wanted and that the forces had besieged them for hours before shooting them after they exited the building.

This comes amid ongoing Israeli escalation in the West Bank for two years, resulting in the martyrdom of more than 1,085 Palestinians, the injury of nearly 11,000 others, and the arrest of more than 20,500 individuals since the start of the genocide in Gaza on October 8, 2023.