Ongoing arrest campaign brings total Palestinians in jail to 5,700; Three killed in West Bank

According to “Maan”, Palestinian News Agency, Israeli forces detained 39 Palestinians in overnight raids across the West Bank on Saturday morning, bringing the number of prisoners in Israeli jails to 5,700 amid the widest deployment of Israel forces in the region since the Second Intifada. Around 370 Palestinians have been detained just in the past week as part of an arrest campaign carried out by Israel that began after the disappearance of three Israeli teenagers from the Jewish settlement of Gush Etzion.

Palestinian arrested by occupation soldiers near Hebron, last week (Photo: Activestills)

Palestinian arrested by occupation soldiers near Hebron, last week (Photo: Activestills)

An elderly Palestinian man died early Saturday of heart attack during a heated argument with Israeli troops who broke into his house in the village of Haris in Salfit district in the northern West Bank.  Palestinian sources said Israeli soldiers refused to allow family members of Jamil Ali Abed Jabir to take him to hospital for treatment after he suffered a heart attack and eventually died at home. The victim was in his 60s. The sources explained that dozens of Israeli soldiers stormed Haris village, ransacked several homes and assaulted residents. On Friday morning Israeli forces shot and killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy after clashes erupted during a raid on the southern West Bank village of Dura, near Hebron. Local sources told Ma’an that Mahmoud Jihad Muhammad Dudeen was struck by live bullets in the chest before being taken to Hebron Governmental Hospital, where he was shortly pronounced dead.

MK Dov Henin (Hadash), a leading member of the Communist Party of Israel on Friday condemned the death of the Arab-Palestinian teen: “A 14-year-old youth was killed today in the territories. The youth, Jihad Mohammed Dudin, was killed by a bullet that hit his chest,” wrote Khenin on his Facebook page. Khenin claimed that an initial investigation of the incident suggests that IDF paratrooper units opened fire and hit the “wrong person,” according to the MK. “This youth also deserved to return in peace to the embrace of his family,” wrote Khenin, making a comparison between the Palestinian teen and the three yeshiva students, Eyal Yifrah (19), Naftali Frenkel (16) and Gilad Sha’ar (16), who were kidnapped last Thursday.

Also, three Palestinian youths were severely injured during clashes between Israeli forces and locals at Qalandiya refugee camp between Ramallah and Jerusalem early Friday.  Local sources told Ma’an that dozens of youths threw rocks and empty bottles at Israeli forces when they raided the camp. One youth was struck in the head when Israeli sources opened fire on the youths, while another two were hit in the stomach, the sources added. Mustafa Aslan, 20, was in critical condition at the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem and died, while Mohammed Shehada, 21, was being treated in Ramallah.