Israeli army stages fresh raids in occupied West Bank, arrests 20 Palestinians

A freed female prisoner who was released under a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner swap deal was among the detainees that targeted the southern city of Hebron, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.

The statement identified the rearrested detainee as Israa Ghunaimat from Surif town near Hebron city.

Ghunaimat was among female prisoners freed from Israeli jails under the ceasefire agreement that took hold in Gaza on Jan. 19.

The arrests came amid Israeli military escalation in the northern West Bank, where at least 65 people have been killed and thousands displaced since Jan. 21.

The new arrests brought the number of Palestinians detained by the Israeli army in the West Bank since October 2023 to over 14,500, including those who were released after being arrested, according to Palestinian figures.

The figure does not include those arrested from the Gaza Strip whose numbers are estimated to be in the thousands.

Over the past few years, the Israeli military has conducted regular raids in the West Bank, which have escalated with the beginning of the war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. Palestinians have also been violently attacked by illegal Israeli settlers.

At least 928 Palestinians have since been killed and over 7,000 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.

In July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land illegal and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.