Dozens of Palestinians detained in occupied West Bank morning raids
Israeli forces detained dozens of Palestinians in early morning raids across the occupied West Bank yesterday.
Soldiers entered Jenin, Nablus, Hebron and Qalqilya raiding homes and detaining at least 26 people, Wafa reported.
In Jenin, six Palestinians were detained after Israeli troops searched their homes and “destroyed contents”.
Two were apprehended in Qalqilya and 16 in Hebron.
Several roads and entrances into cities, villages and camps were closed off during the operation in the occupied territory.
A Palestinian Red Crescent worker was injured by “shrapnel from live bullets” in Askar Camp, east of Nablus.
Israeli troops, accompanied by a military bulldozer, stormed Askar Camp at dawn.
Israel has intensified its operations in the West Bank in recent months, amid the war in Gaza. More than 24,200 people have been killed since the beginning of the war, sparked by Hamas’s attacks on October 7, which killed about 1,200 in southern Israel.
Local authorities say more than 50 rockets were fired towards the Israeli city of Netivot from the Gaza Strip yesterday. No injuries were reported but the barrage was the largest launched at Israel in recent weeks. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday that the “intensive phase” of Israel’s fighting in northern Gaza had ended.
Yesterday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said 158 people were killed in overnight air strikes and about 320 were injured.
More than 61,100 have been injured in the enclave since the war started.
Zahra Abu Dabaa, a doctor at the emergency department in Gaza’s Nasser Hospital, told The National she had been struggling to contact her family, who live in Rafah at Gaza’s border with Egypt.
“Sometimes I don’t know if something happened to them and as a doctor, not being able to help them, it’s really hard,” she said.
Dr Abu Dabaa said she had “collapsed” while working at the hospital due to exhaustion and concern for her family.
On Monday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that the escalation of the war risks spilling over into a “broader escalation” on the Lebanon-Israeli border that put at risk “regional stability”.
He called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip and condemned Israel’s response.
“Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” Mr Guterres said.