The Palestinian Center for Prisoners Advocacy expresses its grave concern over the dangerous escalation taking place across the occupied West Bank, as Israeli forces have carried out a large-scale arrest campaign targeting more than 120 Palestinians over the past two days. The campaign forms part of a systematic retaliatory policy accompanied by serious violations against Palestinian civilians and their property.
The arrests were concentrated in the governorates of Nablus, Tulkarm and Hebron. Israeli forces conducted extensive raids on Palestinian homes, deliberately damaging their contents, tampering with residents’ belongings and terrorizing families. Many Palestinians were also subjected to field interrogations involving beatings, humiliation and other forms of abuse.
Several raids were carried out with the participation of armed Israeli settlers and under the direct protection of Israeli forces. This reflects the extent of official complicity in settler attacks and further increases the dangers facing Palestinians in their towns and villages.
The campaign is a part of Israel’s broader policy of collective punishment and retaliation against the Palestinian people, through the expansion of arbitrary arrests, the escalation of attacks on the ground and the deliberate spread of fear among civilians.
We warn against the continuation of this escalation and the systematic violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law accompanying it. These violations require urgent international action to bring such crimes to an end and hold those responsible accountable.
We call on the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and all international and human rights organizations to take immediate action to provide urgent international protection for the Palestinian people in the West Bank, put an end to crimes committed by Israel and Israeli settlers, and protect civilians from the escalating arrest campaigns and attacks targeting their lives, dignity and property.
