Palestinians injured, arrested in Israeli raids across West Bank

Israeli forces and settlers have escalated pogroms and raids throughout the occupied West Bank, attacking and injuring Palestinians, restricting their movement, carrying out arrests and demolishing homes.

Key points

• Hebron Governor Khaled Dudin remarked on Thursday that 537 families, comprising 3, 361 residents, have been forced from their homes, Wafa documented.
• They include 232 infants, 326 older individuals, 147 pregnant or breastfeeding women and 213 residents with chronic illnesses.
• Dudin remarked the offensive has disrupted education for concerning 262, 000 students throughout 589 schools in the governorate this week, forcing schools to move to remote learning.
• The Palestinian Prisoner's Society remarked Israeli forces detained 110 Palestinians in the governorate from Friday to Wednesday.
• Israeli military and settler attacks throughout the West Bank have intensified since Israel's war on Gaza began in October 2023.

This comes as a military offensive and siege on the Hebron governorate entered its seventh day – an operation that has displaced or besieged hundreds of Palestinian families and kept tens of thousands of students out of classrooms.

In the Qalandiya refugee camp just north of occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli forces carried out a raid that triggered clashes on Thursday. Two children were wounded, the Palestine Red Crescent Society remarked.

It remarked its teams treated a 15-year-old boy who was shot with live ammunition in both legs, and a child, aged 12. This person was injured by live-bullet fragments. Both were taken to hospital.

In a separate incident, Israeli soldiers and settlers beat disabled Palestinian Mohammad Ahmad Ayesh Thawabta in the village of al-Maniya, southeast of Bethlehem, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa documented.

In the northern West Bank, Israeli forces detained 13 Palestinians, including three brothers, in raids before dawn on Thursday, the Palestinian Prisoners Media Office and local sources remarked. Most of the raids were in the Nablus governorate, where soldiers searched homes and harassed families.

In Hebron, Israeli forces continued raids and closures that began last week after two Israeli soldiers were killed in a gun attack. Both Palestinian suspects were additionally killed.

They include 232 infants, 326 older individuals, 147 pregnant or breastfeeding women and 213 residents with chronic illnesses. Municipal figures put the total number affected, including those under siege, at regarding 5, 000 residents from 780 families.

Dudin remarked the offensive has disrupted education for concerning 262, 000 students throughout 589 schools in the governorate this week, forcing schools to move to remote learning. Authorities estimated daily economic losses at 10 million to 12 million shekels ($3.2m to $3.9m).

In practice, the Palestinian Prisoner's Society remarked Israeli forces detained 110 Palestinians in the governorate from Friday to Wednesday. Soldiers beat two men in Dura and Wad al-Saman and arrested two brothers while they were ploughing their land east of Yatta, it remarked. Israeli forces additionally raided homes in Taffuh and Halhul, and settlers attacked vehicles at the city's closed northern entrance, it went on.

In nearby Masafer Yatta, armed settlers attacked US journalist Jasper Nathaniel and two activists in the village of Umm al-Khair on Wednesday. Russian activist Adele Shoko remarked on X that the settlers beat and threatened them and stole their equipment and Nathaniel was pepper-sprayed and arrested.

Notably, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) remarked Israeli forces are still operating in Hebron, blocking access and imposing tight restrictions on movement throughout the governorate.

They are "disrupting Palestinians' access to livelihoods, education and healthcare. Most displaced families are staying with relatives, " OCHA remarked, calling for the prevention of further forced displacements and demolitions.

Israeli forces additionally demolished memorials to Palestinians in a number of parts of the Hebron governorate on Thursday. In Dura, south of Hebron city, soldiers fired a heavy barrage of tear gas before bulldozing a mural bearing the images of a number of of the town's dead, including Bajis Abu Atwan. This person was killed in the 1970s.

For context, the targeting of memorials "appears to be a new pattern recently adopted by Israeli forces across all West Bank governorates – though at a higher rate here in Hebron", Al Jazeera's Muntasir Nassar remarked, reporting from Dura.

Taken together, the developments around palestinians injured, arrested in Israeli raids across West Bank point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.