Israeli occupation authorities recorded approximately 500 arrests in the West Bank and Jerusalem during August, including 31 children and 11 women and girls, while one prisoner died in Israeli custody, according to the Palestinian Center for Prisoner Studies on Wednesday.
In a statement, the center explained that the arrest campaigns were accompanied by raids on dozens of homes, ransacking their contents, detaining residents, subjecting them to field interrogations, and forcing homeowners to leave their houses for hours before releasing most of them after they had been subjected to humiliation, beatings, and threats.
According to the center, these campaigns are part of a systematic policy to deplete the human resources in the West Bank by arresting hundreds monthly and subjecting hundreds more to field interrogations, particularly young people, as part of a policy of collective punishment against Palestinians.
Among children, the center documented the arrest of 31 minors under the age of 18 during the past month, the youngest of whom was Ibrahim al-Jundi, aged 13, from Hebron. According to the statement, the occupation forces released a number of children after hours or days of interrogation, while others were transferred to detention and interrogation centers. Administrative detention orders were issued against several of them without clear charges.
As for women and girls, 11 were arrested, most of whom are relatives of wanted individuals, prisoners, and martyrs.
According to data from prisoners’ institutions, the Israeli occupation is holding more than 9,400 Palestinian prisoners in its prisons, including 92 female prisoners and 3,324 administrative detainees, in addition to 1,316 detainees whom the occupation authorities classify as “unlawful combatants.”
