Israel arrests 11 Palestinians in West Bank raids

By Abdel-Raouf Arnaout

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Israeli forces rounded up 11 Palestinians in overnight raids across the occupied West Bank, according to the Israeli military.

The individuals were arrested for “suspected involvement in popular terrorist activities,” the army claimed in a Monday statement, without elaborating.

The detainees have been taken into custody for investigation, the statement said.

According to official Palestinian figures, some 6,500 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including 62 women and about 350 minors.

The Israeli army frequently carries out sweeping arrest campaigns across the occupied West Bank on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians.

In another development, the Israeli army said an improvised bomb went off late Sunday near one of its positions in Nablus in northern part of the West Bank.

No casualties or damages have been reported in the incident.

Tension has been running high across the occupied Palestinian territories since the United States relocated its embassy earlier this month from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which was occupied by Israel in 1967 and represents the heart of the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Since late March, more than 115 Palestinians have been killed and thousands injured by Israeli gunfire during anti-occupation protests in the Gaza Strip.

The protesters demand their return to their homes in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.