AL-KHALIL, (PIC)
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Tuesday arrested former Palestinian Minister of Religious Endowments and head of the Islamic Charitable Society in al-Khalil, Hatem al-Bakri, during a raid on the society’s headquarters in the Hawouz area in central al-Khalil.
Security sources said that the IOF detained al-Bakri during the raid and held those present inside the building, including WAFA news agency correspondent Jwaid al-Tamimi. Field interrogations are still ongoing.
In a separate incident, an Israeli special forces unit abducted a young man on Tuesday from the town of Al-Yamun, west of Jenin in the northern West Bank.
Local sources confirmed that an Israeli undercover unit infiltrated the entrance of the town in a civilian vehicle and abducted Ahmad Naji Abu Hussein.
In a related context, the IOF also arrested three residents from the town of Bal’a, east of Tulkarem, following a large-scale raid that lasted approximately 15 hours.
The PIC correspondent, citing eyewitnesses and local sources, reported that the Israeli forces stormed the town at dawn and carried out extensive raids and searches of homes, during which property was damaged, and belongings were ransacked.
The sources added that the IOF detained dozens of residents, particularly young men, and took them to a field interrogation center set up inside a local home after seizing it and turning it into a military post. The detainees were restrained and blindfolded, while snipers were deployed on the roof of the house.
The IOF arrested three people, while the remaining detainees were later released before the IOF withdrew from the town.
