Today, Monday, the Israeli army continued its campaign of raids and arrests in various areas of the West Bank, coinciding with the continuation of its military operation in the town of Biddu, northwest of Jerusalem, for the second day in a row, which resulted in the detention of dozens and the conversion of a house into a field investigation center.
The official Palestinian News Agency, Wafa, reported that Israeli forces arrested 13 Palestinians from the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Hebron governorates, including two women. The arrests included 7 people in Jenin following raids on the towns of Fahma, Qabatiya and Ya’bad, in addition to the arrest of 5 others in Tulkarm and Nazla al-Sharqiya, and one person in Hebron. In the same context, an Israeli force stormed the village of Burqa, northwest of Nablus, and raided and searched a number of homes, amid reports that a number of residents were beaten and interrogated.
In the town of Biddu, the Jerusalem Governorate reported that Israeli forces continued their operation for the second day, detaining about 53 young men inside an investigation center they created in one of the homes they seized. This was accompanied by widespread searches and vandalism inside homes and attacks on residents.
For his part, the mayor of Biddu, Nazmi Mansour, explained that Israeli forces are deployed heavily in the town’s streets and raiding its homes, noting the closure of official and educational institutions and shops amid a state of intense tension and anticipation among the people.
These field developments come in the wake of a shooting attack near the “Halamish” settlement, northwest of Ramallah, which resulted in the death of an Israeli. The Israeli authorities announced the arrest of a Palestinian resident of the town of Biddu on suspicion of carrying out the attack, an incident that prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to issue directives to intensify security operations and arrest campaigns in the West Bank.
It is noteworthy that the West Bank has witnessed, since October 2023, a noticeable escalation represented by an increase in the frequency of raids, arrests, and the imposition of restrictions on freedom of movement, in parallel with the escalation of settler violence and mutual attacks, which has placed the region in a cycle of continuous security tension.
