WEST BANK (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kidnaped a number of Palestinian citizens during raids in the West Bank last night and on Tuesday morning, amid clashes in some areas.
According to local sources, the IOF stormed the southern area of al-Khalil City and kidnaped an ex-detainee from his home.
The IOF also kidnaped two other citizens from their homes in Dura town, southwest of al-Khalil.
In Bethlehem, the IOF kidnaped two young men after ransacking their homes in al-Khader town.
During their raid in al-Khader, the IOF threatened via megaphones to disrupt daily life in the town if local youths continued to throw stones at Jewish settlers.
In southern Bethlehem, Israeli forces gathered in the eastern area of Jurat ash-Sham’ah village before storming it and interrogating local residents during raids on homes.
Local sources in the village reported that Israeli soldiers inspected security cameras installed outside homes and stores.
In Ramallah, Israeli forces kidnaped a young man from his home in al-Am’ari refugee camp and stormed the towns of Silwad, Budrus and Kharbatha Bani Harith.
The IOF raided several homes during its raids in Ramallah and reportedly assaulted an ex-detainee called Bahaa Awad during a raid on his home in Budrus town. He suffered injuries and was rushed to a hospital.
In Jenin, the IOF kidnaped a young man following a violent raid on his home in al-Yamun town.
Israeli forces also stormed Bir Basha town in southern Jenin and kidnaped several local residents following raids on homes.
Local sources said that Israeli soldiers searched homes, interrogated residents and expelled farmers from their lands in the town.
The IOF also raided the house of ex-detainee Sultan Khallouf in Burqin town, west of Jenin, in an attempt to arrest him. His home had been stormed by Israeli forces several times recently for the same purpose.
In a separate incident, an Israeli soldier was injured last night when a Palestinian resistance fighter threw an explosive device at Israeli forces in the east of Nablus City, where a large number of extremist settlers were defiling Joseph’s Tomb.
Violent clashes also broke out between local youths and Israeli soldiers in the eastern area of Nablus and Qusra town during the presence of settlers in the area for rituals at the tomb. The IOF fired live ammunition during the events.
The IOF also prevented many local residents from reaching their homes in the eastern area of Nablus at the time.
Earlier, a large number of Israeli troops aboard military vehicles, including bulldozers, stormed the eastern area of Nablus City last night and spread through its streets in order to provide protection for buses and cars carrying dozens of settlers who came for rituals at Joseph’s Tomb.
According to local sources, the Israeli bulldozers blocked Amman street near Joseph’s Tomb with mounds of dirt and rocks, while snipers were deployed in buildings around the site before settlers flocked to the mausoleum.
Israeli soldiers reportedly assaulted young men after intercepting the car they were in in al-Quds street of Nablus City, while an IOF vehicle tried to run over a young man as he was trying to reach his home near Balata refugee camp, close to the city.
Palestinian paramedics provided one citizen with first aid and transferred him to the hospital after he suffered shrapnel wounds during the IOF raid in Nablus City.
Meanwhile, dozens of settlers gathered inside the mausoleum of Joseph’s Tomb, where they danced, sang, and screamed loudly and hysterically for long hours, causing a disturbance to the local residents living around it.
Israeli troops and settlers storm every week the eastern area of Nablus to perform rituals at the tomb, which they claim to be the resting-place of the biblical patriarch Joseph, while locals and Palestinian historians affirm that the grave belongs to a local medieval Muslim Sheikh called Yousef al-Duwaik.
