Israeli forces raid two southern West Bank towns, assault Palestinians

Israeli occupation forces Thursday evening raided and assaulted Palestinians in the Beit Kahel and Tarqumya towns, west of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, according to local sources. They said that the occupation forces stormed Beit Kahel, deployed in the main streets and vicinity of houses, simultaneously while firing barrages of tear gas canisters towards the town residents. Nevertheless, there was no immediate information on any casualties or detention cases. Meanwhile, the mayor of Tarqumya, Mohammad Fatafta, said that the occupation forces barged their way into the town, deploying patrols in all neighbourhoods, sealing off several streets, preventing the residents from moving, and holding some of them and beating them up. The heavily armed soldiers showed up at many houses, muscled and wreaked havoc inside at a time when they occupied five houses, harassed the families and locked them inside. Meanwhile, the occupation troops withdrew from the town of Idhna, west of Hebron, following a 15-hour- long incursion, which saw large-scale house-to-house raids, with soldiers breaking into houses, conducting thorough searches, occupying some houses and turning them into military outposts and interrogation centres, and beating up and subjecting many youths to long interrogation. A similar raid was confirmed in the Dura al-Qari' and Ein Yabrud villages, northeast of Ramallah, where a sizable army and police force indiscriminately opened live gunfire, trigging confrontations. The occupation forces frequently conduct raids daily across the West Bank on the pretext of searching for 'wanted' Palestinians, triggering clashes with residents. These raids are conducted without a search warrant whenever and wherever the military chooses, in keeping with its sweeping arbitrary powers. Under Israeli military law army commanders have full executive, legislative and judicial authority over 3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank. Palestinians have no say in how this authority is exercised. Source: Palestine Ne ws and Information Agency – WAFA