WEST BANK, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Israeli occupation authorities detained around 500 Palestinians across the West Bank and Jerusalem in August, including 31 children and 11 women and girls, while another Palestinian prisoner died in Israeli custody, the Palestine Center for Prisoner Studies said on Wednesday.
In a statement, the center said the detention campaigns were accompanied by raids on dozens of homes, searches and damage to property, as well as the detention of Palestinians for field interrogations.
In some cases, residents were forced from their homes for hours. Most of those subjected to field interrogation were later released after being subjected to humiliation, beatings and threats, according to the center.
The center said the campaigns form part of a systematic policy aimed at exhausting Palestinian communities in the West Bank through the detention of hundreds of people each month and the field interrogation of hundreds more, particularly young Palestinians, as part of a policy of collective punishment.
Women and children among those detained
The center documented the detention of 31 children under the age of 18 during August. The youngest was 13-year-old Ibrahim al-Jundi from al-Khalil.
According to the statement, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) released some of the children after hours or days of interrogation, while others were transferred to detention and interrogation centers. Administrative detention orders were also issued against some of them without clear charges.
The IOF also detained 11 women and girls, most of whom were relatives of wanted Palestinians, prisoners or Palestinians killed by Israeli gunfire.
Among those detained was Ayat al-Ashhab, the mother of Taher Zakarneh from Qabatiya in Jenin, who was killed by Israeli forces, as well as Arwa Matrouk, the wife of administrative detainee Ahmad Matrouk and mother of Khabbab Matrouk, who was wanted by Israeli forces.
The IOF also detained the wife of Ibrahim al-Bitawi, brother of wanted Palestinian Qais al-Bitawi, along with his sister Hala and his aunt, Umm Mohammad Shobash, in an attempt to pressure him to surrender. He was later killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Umm Ahed Turkman from Jenin was also among those detained.
In Ramallah, Israeli forces detained gynecologist Dima Amin after raiding her home despite her serious health condition. According to the center, she had experienced symptoms of a heart attack and had undergone cardiac catheterization.
Others detained included Lana Omar from Nablus, who was stopped at an Israeli military checkpoint over an alleged possession of a knife; Kifah Hamad from Qalandia, who was released on bail after five days; Maisam Abdul Raouf Faqih from Beit Imrin; and Suhaila al-Jabari from al-Khalil.
Another Palestinian prisoner dies in Israeli custody
The death of 36-year-old Palestinian prisoner Ihab Mohammad Diab from the Gaza Strip raised the number of Palestinian prisoners who died in Israeli custody since 1967 to 328, including 91 since October 7, 2023, according to the Palestine Center for Prisoner Studies.
The center said Diab died as a result of torture he was subjected to following his detention in December 2023. Citing his family, the center said he had not suffered from any illnesses when he was detained.
It added that Israeli occupation authorities concealed his death for more than two years, saying the case heightened concerns that dozens of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza may have been killed in Israeli custody while their fate remains unknown.
The center linked this to a policy of enforced disappearance and Israel’s failure to disclose the number or identities of Palestinians from Gaza who have died in its custody.
More than 700 administrative detention orders
Israel also significantly escalated its use of administrative detention in August, with Israeli authorities issuing more than 700 orders, including new detention orders and renewals for additional periods.
According to the center, the orders were issued following recommendations from Israel’s Shin Bet security agency and without clarification of the charges against the detainees.
The measures were not limited to Palestinians already held under administrative detention. The center said Israeli intelligence authorities transferred several Palestinian prisoners who had completed their prison sentences into administrative detention immediately after their sentences ended.
115 Gaza prisoners released
Israeli occupation authorities released 115 Palestinian prisoners from the Gaza Strip during August, including one woman, after they had spent varying periods in detention.
Those released included dozens of workers who had been detained in different parts of the occupied West Bank.
Some were transferred directly to hospitals after their release because of deteriorating physical and psychological conditions linked to starvation, torture and abuse during their detention.
In Gaza, the center also documented the detention of four Palestinian fishermen by Israeli naval forces while they were working off the coast of Gaza City.
The IOF also detained several truck drivers transporting humanitarian aid into the Strip.
Meanwhile, the center said armed groups cooperating with Israel abducted several Palestinians in central and southern Gaza after infiltrating, under the protection of Israeli aircraft, areas where displaced Palestinians were sheltering near what is known as the “Yellow Line.”
According to data from Palestinian prisoner institutions, Israel currently holds more than 9,400 Palestinian prisoners.
They include 92 women, 3,324 administrative detainees and 1,316 Palestinians whom Israeli authorities classify as “unlawful combatants.”
