Israeli forces arrest at least 17 Palestinians, including pregnant woman, in West Bank raids

Israeli occupation forces continued their raids on Palestinians across the occupied West Bank over the weekend, with more than a dozen Palestinians arrested - including a 36-year-old pregnant woman-  according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS).

Nihal Mohammad Ribee, who is said to be in her fifth month of pregnancy, was detained in her hometown of Yatta, Hebron governorate, which is located in the southern West Bank. She is also a mother of five.

Ribee’s husband, Bilal al-Yatim, as well as her minor son Baraa, were detained in a similar manner by Israeli forces on 11 December, according to local media.

قوات الاحتلال اعتقلت 17 مواطنًا على الأقل الليلة الماضية وفجر اليوم، بينهم أسير سابق، وجريح من جنين وهو محمد صالح البزور، وسيدة من مدينة يطا وهي نهال محمد ربعي وهي أمّ لخمسة أبناء وحامل بالشهر الخامس.

المصدر: نادي الأسير الفلسطيني pic.twitter.com/TTZmnotAFr

— أسرى فلسطين (@PalPrisoners) December 19, 2022

Rateb al-Jabour, a local activist, told the Palestinian Wafa agency that Israeli soldiers also arrested two high school students also in Yatta, while a forth was detained in the town of Durra, where Israeli soldiers ransacked the detainee’s family home.

At least 17 people were arrested across the occupied territories.

In east Jerusalem, Israeli forces detained three young Palestinians – all of whom hail from the same family – in the Sur Baher neighbourhood in occupied east Jerusalem. The detainees were severely beaten, according to sources.

Other raids and arrests were carried out in the cities of Qalqiya, Bethlehem and Burqin, northwest of the city of Jenin.

Last week, Israeli forces shot and killed 16-year-old Jana Zakarneh, who was playing on the rooftop of her home following a violent raid in a refugee camp in Jenin.

Zakarneh was the 36th minor and the 224th Palestinian to be killed by Israeli soldiers - chiefly during raids - this year. 

The raids are the latest in the series of violence which Palestinians have been subjected to for decades, by both Israeli forces and settlers, as a means to disrupt, intimidate and terrorise life in the occupied territories. 

Meanwhile, Israeli settlers set fire to a Palestinian-owned shop and nursery on Monday in the village of al-Sawiya, south of Nablus, reported Wafa.

The settlers caused damage to both the shop and nursery located on the Nablus-Ramallah Road, and even attempted to destruct the place by using a gas cylinder, according to Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activities in the northern West Bank.

Israel has occupied east Jerusalem and the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War when it invaded the territory in a move considered illegal by the international community.