Israel detains 41 Palestinians in overnight raids in West Bank

By Awad al-Rujoub

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - Israeli army forces rounded up 41 Palestinians in overnight raids across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) said on Monday.

PPS said in a statement that most of the Palestinian detainees were from occupied East Jerusalem.

Amani Sarahneh, a spokesperson for the PPS, said her NGO has witnessed an increase in the rates of arrest and expected more arrests to be reported within the day.

PPS said on Sunday that around 2,000 Palestinians have been arrested by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank and Arab towns inside Israel since mid-April.

Meanwhile, the Israeli police announced it arrested 1,550 Arab Israelis in the Arab towns in Israel in the past two weeks and added that 150 of them were indicted.

Around 4,400 Palestinians are estimated to be held in Israeli prisons, including 39 women, 115 children, and 350 administrative detainees, according to Palestinian rights groups.

* Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara