RAMALLAH, Palestine 

At least 28 Palestinians were detained by Israeli forces in military raids carried out across the occupied West Bank, according to prisoners’ affairs groups on Thursday.

A student was among the detainees in the raids that targeted the cities of East Jerusalem, Hebron, Jenin, Bethlehem, Ramallah and Nablus, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.

“The arrests were marked by harassment, threats against detainees and their families, in addition to the destruction and sabotage of citizens’ homes,” the statement said.

Thursday’s arrests brought to 9,430 the number of Palestinians detained by the Israeli army in the West Bank since last Oct. 7, according to Palestinian figures.

Over the past few years, the Israeli military has conducted regular raids in the West Bank, which have escalated with the beginning of the war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. Palestinians have also been violently attacked by illegal Israeli settlers.

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

Israel stands accused of “genocide” at the International Court of Justice, which, in its latest ruling, has 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 Ahmed Asmar in Ankara