The Palestinian Center for Prisoners Advocacy condemned the Israeli forces’ arrest of the elderly Ibrahim al-Atrash, father of the perpetrator of the Gush Etzion operation. According to the center, occupation troops stormed the family home, vandalizing it in a violent manner and assaulting family members, causing various injuries before detaining ten of them. Soldiers then beat the elderly father of the slain attacker in what the center described as a theatrical show of force meant to intimidate and humiliate, reflecting a deliberate attempt to break the resilience of the families of martyrs and prisoners.
The center views this escalating policy as a form of collective punishment and a fascist occupation tactic that will not break the determination of detainees nor deter them from their role in resisting all forms of occupation, settlement expansion, land seizure, property confiscation, settler violence, and the widespread arrest campaigns that now target communities across the West Bank on a daily basis.
The center warned of a growing pattern of arbitrary and mass arrests. Statistics from early Thursday morning until midday documented the detention of more than 65 Palestinians from the city of Hebron alone, including two women, several elderly individuals, and children.
All forms of repression, abuse, and retaliatory arrests, the center said, constitute a clear violation of international law, norms, and conventions. It again called on all relevant international bodies to intervene to halt these fascist practices, which reflect a violent mentality aimed at killing, injuring, and detaining as many Palestinians as possible.
The center noted that these punitive arrests come at a time when more than 9,500 Palestinian detainees are enduring dire humanitarian conditions inside Israeli prisons. Violations and continuous mistreatment are intensifying, putting the lives of many prisoners at risk under a far-right government that openly signals its intent to kill as many inmates as possible ahead of formally enacting the death penalty. This, the center said, places all Palestinians before a national, moral, and humanitarian responsibility to build a protective shield for prisoners at every level, through a unifying national vision that strengthens the steadfastness of all detainees until their release.
Thursday, 20 November 2025
