Palestinian territories continue to witness a systematic escalation in Israeli repression and arbitrary arrests against civilians, amid ongoing widespread violations in the West Bank and the continuation of the tight Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip.
From last night until this morning, Israeli occupation forces launched a campaign of arrests and field interrogations, detaining at least 35 Palestinians from various governorates across the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem.
According to field reports, the arrests included a child and several former detainees, and were carried out in the governorates of Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarm, Hebron, Qalqilya, and Jericho. These operations were accompanied by violent raids, assaults on citizens, physical and psychological abuse of detainees and their families, and widespread destruction and vandalism of civilian homes.
These arrests form part of a consistent and systematic policy employed by the Israeli occupation, based on mass detention and arbitrary field interrogation in areas subjected to raids, constituting a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits arbitrary detention and inhumane or degrading treatment of civilians under occupation.
Since the beginning of the assault on Gaza on 8 October 2023, the Israeli occupation has continued committing mass atrocities against Palestinian civilians, resulting in the deaths of approximately 67,938 people and injuries to 170,169 others, most of them women and children. Additionally, famine caused by the blockade has claimed the lives of 463 Palestinians, including 157 children, amid total deprivation of food, medicine, and water.
In the West Bank, local human rights sources have documented the killing of at least 1,052 Palestinians by Israeli occupation forces and settlers, the injury of over 10,000 others, and the arrest of more than 20,000 individuals, including 1,600 children.
The persistence and intensification of these violations represent a pattern of collective punishment, in direct contradiction to the most basic principles of justice and human rights. It underscores the occupation’s use of field detention and systematic violence as tools of control and collective terror against the civilian population.
This situation urgently calls for immediate international action to enforce the rules of international law, hold perpetrators accountable, and ensure legal and humanitarian protection for the Palestinian people amid ongoing occupation and systematic extermination.
