By Aysar Alais and Ikram Kouachi
ISTANBUL (AA) - The Israeli army rounded up at least six Palestinians in military raids in the West Bank on Sunday, as illegal settlers continued their assaults in the occupied territory.
Two Palestinians were taken into Israeli custody in Fahma town in the northern city of Jenin, and two others in Nablus, the official news agency Wafa reported.
Two more people were arrested by Israeli forces in the cities of Tulkarem and Ramallah, the Hamas-run Media Office for Prisoners said.
Israeli forces also raided several areas across Bethlehem, Hebron, and Jerusalem, but no information was yet available about arrests.
Meanwhile, a group of illegal Israeli settlers blocked the main entrance to the Palestinian village of al-Lubban al-Sharqiya, south of Nablus.
Wafa said illegal settlers prevented vehicles from crossing into the village and performed Talmudic rituals at the site.
According to Palestinian figures, illegal Israeli settlers carried out 157 attacks against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank in the first half of May alone.
Since the start of the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, at least 972 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers across the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The International Court of Justice declared last July that Israel’s longstanding occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal, and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.