RAMALLAH, Palestine

Israeli forces have rounded up 5,426 Palestinians, including women and children, in the first half of 2021, according to Palestinian NGOs.

A total of 854 children and 107 women were among those detained since the beginning of this year, said a report by the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoner Society, the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and the Wadi Hilweh Information Center.

The month of May saw the highest number of arrests, with 3,100 Palestinians taken into Israeli custody, the statement said.

The occupied city of Jerusalem came first with the highest number of arrests (1,699 detainees), it added.

The report said most of the detainees, especially those in Jerusalem and Arab cities inside Israel, were released, but without providing an exact number.

The arrests recorded in the first half of this year are double the cases registered in the first half of last year, the report said.

The report estimates that 4,850 Palestinians are still held in Israeli prisons as of June 30, including 41 women, 225 minors, and 540 people held under Israel’s administrative detention policy, which allows detention of Palestinians without charge or trial.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara