Since October 7 last year, more than 11,800 Palestinians from the West Bank, including Jerusalem, have been detained, according to Palestinian sources.
Israeli forces stormed Birzeit University, north of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank at dawn on Tuesday and detained four students.
According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, the soldiers also vandalized the student union offices on campus. While another report said the Israeli forces destroyed the university’s western gate.
Israel has violently stormed Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank again in its ongoing project of scholasticide https://t.co/uT7fTGltC5
— USSbriefs (@USSbriefs) November 26, 2024
The detained students were identified as Hassan Saleh, Amr Kayed, Amjad Nobani, and Fadi Abu Al-Sa’adeen.
Meanwhile, university student, Shahid Awida, remains in Israeli custody since being detained eight months ago while on her way to the campus.
Her mother said in an interview shared by Free Palestine TV last week that Awida faces difficult conditions in Israeli detention, including that she is deprived of food and clothes.
“There are no visits, no calls,” she stated, adding that “Shahd had a problem with her knee, even before the arrest.”
“The arrest and the lack of food have caused her to have vitamin deficiencies and she can barely walk on her feet,” she stressed.
Students Teargassed
Elsewhere, several female students suffered from tear gas inhalation after Israeli occupation forces raided the town of al-Khadr, south of Bethlehem, and fired tear gas at a school.
Australian Student Shot in Israeli Raid Demands Investigation
WAFA reported that the soldiers fired the gas directly at the students as they were leaving the school grounds, causing several of them to suffocate.
Several Detained
Israeli forces also detained at least 16 Palestinians overnight in the occupied West Bank, including former prisoners, as part of a continuing wave of detentions and military raids across the region, WAFA said on Tuesday.
The detentions targeted various northern and southern West Bank towns, including Hebron (al-Khalil), Ramallah, Nablus, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem. Several of the detainees are former prisoners who Israeli authorities have previously incarcerated, the report noted.
#WestBank: The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kidnaped a number of Palestinian citizens on Monday evening and later during dawn and morning raids on Tuesday in the West Bank, amid clashes with resistance fighters. pic.twitter.com/268rOxANsZ
— Days of Palestine (@DaysOf_Pal) November 26, 2024
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said in a joint statement that the detainees were subjected to violent raids and threats, with Israeli forces causing significant damage to their homes during the military operations.
Since the beginning of the ongoing Israeli military aggression against the Gaza population in October 2023, which has escalated in recent months, more than 11,800 Palestinians from the West Bank, including Jerusalem, have been detained, according to WAFA.
The escalation follows a landmark ruling in July by the International Court of Justice that declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
(PC, WAFA, Anadolu)
