Israeli soldiers detained seven Palestinians during violent overnight raids in the southern West Bank that left several injured.
The army spokesman told the Ma’an News Agency that five Palestinians were detained in the Hebron district and two were arrested in Bethlehem.
Witnesses in al-Fawwar refugee camp in Hebron said soldiers ransacked the home of Mohammed al-Najjar, a former prisoner and reportedly a member of Islamic Jihad, and assaulted him in front of his family before shackling and detaining him.
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers raided the home of Gamila Hassan al-Shalaldeh in Hebron and detained her and her 20-year-old son Ragheb al-Salaymeh early Tuesday morning.
And in the south Hebron Hills, witnesses reported seeing 47-year-old Said Rabbah being beaten then arrested by troops. They said his 20-year-old daughter Maryam was also beaten, but not arrested. She was allegedly taken to hospital in the nearby town of Yatta for treatment.
During a pre-dawn raid in Beit Ummar village just north of Hebron, soldiers arrested Wahid Abu Marya, 45, who spent years in Israeli prisons over his ties to Islamic Jihad, witnesses said.
They said dozens of troops had surrounded his house at around 3am and opened fire when he initially ignored calls to come out, causing part of the house to collapse. He was then arrested.
Soldiers later fired tear gas at youths in the village who were pelting them with stones, an AFP correspondent said. Several of them were treated for tear gas inhalation.
An Israeli military spokesman told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers and border police staged a joint operation in Beit Ummar “to prevent terror activities.”
He said one suspect barricaded himself in his home and that forces used “a number of means to pressure him” to come out. The man was eventually arrested and taken for questioning by security forces.
The army official did not confirm that soldiers demolished the man’s home.
Meanwhile on Monday, Israeli forces detained three Palestinian teenagers, Palestinian officials said.
Odai Barqan, 13, Abed Ghaith, 13, and Mohammad al-Razem, 14, were accused of painting on a Jewish settler’s car. Palestinian officials told Ma’an that Barqan and Ghaith were later released but al-Razem remains in detention.
(english.al-akhbar.com / 30.10.2012)