RAMALLAH, Palestine

At least 20 more Palestinians were detained by Israeli forces in military raids in the occupied West Bank, according to prisoners’ affairs groups on Sunday.

A student and several children were among the detainees in the raids that targeted the cities of Nablus, Qalqilya, Tubas, Ramallah, and Jericho, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.

“The detainees were subjected to abuse, severe beatings, and threats against their families, in addition to widespread acts of sabotage and destruction of citizens’ homes,” the statement said.

The new arrests brought to 9,345 the number of Palestinians detained by the Israeli army in the West Bank since Oct. 7, 2023, according to Palestinian figures.

The Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported early Sunday that the army had halted around 20 arrests of Palestinian activists in the West Bank due to its already overcrowded prisons.

Tensions have been high across the occupied West Bank since Israel launched a deadly military offensive against the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 37,600 victims since Oct. 7.

At least 553 Palestinians have since been killed including 133 children and nearly 5,300 injured by Israeli army fire in the West Bank, according to the Health Ministry.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi