Israeli occupation forces launch fresh crackdown in West Bank

Israeli forces detained 18 people on Tuesday in predawn raids across the occupied West Bank, according to local sources and the Israeli army.

Among the detainees were 11 from the Hebron district, including former political detainee Raed Sharabati and Palestinian journalist Musaab Qafisha, who were arrested from their homes.

An Israeli army spokesperson said that the 18 were all detained for "illegal activity" or suspected involvement with the Hamas resistance movement.

The Israeli military regularly carries out predawn detention raids in the West Bank - including areas under full Palestinian jurisdiction - averaging over 90 raids per week since the start of this year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Nearly 7,000 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisoners, and the Hebron district in particular has been targeted in detention raids since a wave of unrest spread across the occupied Palestinian territory in October.

Armed Israeli forces at dawn escorted excavators and inspectors from the Jerusalem municipality onto a privately owned playground

Children's playground demolished

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities levelled a privately owned playground and uprooted several trees in ongoing demolitions in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, locals told Maan agency.

According to Silwan resident Khalid al-Zeir, armed Israeli forces at dawn escorted excavators and inspectors from the Jerusalem municipality onto a playground he built in al-Abbasiyya area of the neighborhood.

The excavators leveled his land and demolished playground structures, a single room used for storage, a poultry pen, walls, and fences, al-Zeir said, adding that a number of trees were also cut down.

Al-Zeir said he was notified by Israel's Nature and National Parks Authority that his playground was built on a "historically important archaeological area" where construction or changes to the landscape are prohibited.

Palestinians living in East Jerusalem are under constant threat of demolition or displacement due to policies carried out by consecutive Israeli governments to establish a Jewish majority in the occupied Palestinian-majority city.

Palestinians' ability to build homes or expand existing structures legally has been severely limited by the Jerusalem municipality, and more than 3,000 Palestinian structures have been demolished since 1967, according to the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department.