22,000 Palestinians detained in West Bank since start of Gaza war in mass arrests

Israeli forces have detained around 22,000 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since the start of Israel's genocidal war in Gaza in October 2023, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club.

The figure includes those who remain behind bars as well as those later released, marking an unprecedented surge in arrests over just two and a half years.

The number does not include thousands detained in Gaza or arrests of Palestinian citizens of Israel.

In a statement on Thursday, the Ramallah-based rights organisation said arrest raids were continuing at a worringly "escalating pace".

At least 40 Palestinians were detained between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning alone, including four women and a child, as well as former prisoners.

The group accused Israeli forces of carrying out "unprecedented crimes and violations" during arrest operations, including severe beatings, systematic intimidation of detainees and their families, widespread destruction of homes, and the confiscation of vehicles, cash and gold jewellery.

It said infrastructure has been damaged, family homes demolished, and relatives "taken hostage" in a bid to pressure prisoners.

The Palestinian Prisoners' Club (PPC) said that some detainees were used as human shields and that several field executions had been carried out during raids.

These arrests were being used as "cover" to expand illegal Jewish settlements across the West Bank, the group warned.

Thousands have been subjected to sweeping field interrogations since the beginning of the Gaza war, with abuses committed by Israeli soldiers during interrogations comparable to torture inflicted on prisoners in formal detention centres.

The PPC said Israel's policy of daily mass arrests is one of its most entrenched colonial tools, historically used to suppress Palestinian political life and collective resistance.

Despite a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, the group said the arrest campaign had escalated, arguing that Israel's broader assault across Palestinian territories remains ongoing.

In a report last month, Israeli rights group B'Tselem described some Israeli prisons as operating as "torture camps", documenting sexual, physical and psychological abuse, deliberate starvation and denial of medical care.

At least 84 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli custody since October 2023, according to B'Tselem.