Israeli army detains 41 Palestinians across West Bank

By Awad al-Rujoub

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - The Israeli army on Thursday detained 41 Palestinians from different areas of the occupied West Bank.

In a statement, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) said the arrests took place in the villages of al-Mughayyir and Kafr Malik in the Ramallah governorate as well as in areas in the occupied East Jerusalem.

The statement noted the number of arrests is the largest in a day since the start of the year, considering such arrests as "an escalation that constitutes a crime in the light of the spread of the coronavirus pandemic."

It added that the increase in the number of virus infections among the Palestinian detainees "put their lives in a double danger."

On Thursday, PPS said the number of infections among Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails have surged to 199 after seven new infections were found in the Rimon prison.

About 4,400 Palestinian political detainees are languishing in Israeli jails -- including 39 women and 155 children -- while 350 of them are under administrative detention.

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara​​​​​​​​​​​​​​