Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces stormed at dawn Thursday Wadi Abu Katila area in al-Khalil City and kidnaped a number of Hamas-affiliated citizens from their homes.
According to local sources a large number of PA soldiers raided several homes belonging to the family of Karama and assaulted its young men at the pretext of placing a Hamas flag at one of their homes in the area.
The PA forces kidnaped five Hamas members from the family after severely beating them and firing live ammunition and tear gas canisters during the raids on their homes.
Recently PA and Israeli security apparatuses have escalated their arrest campaigns against Hamas members and sympathizers in the occupied West Bank in an attempt to prevent them from marking the Movement’s 35th founding anniversary.
Local figures in the West Bank accuse PA and Israeli security forces of using excessive force when carrying out raids on homes and making arrests affirming that PA officers in particular use electric shocks stun grenades batons and tear gas canisters during house raids.
Analysts say such frenzied arrest campaigns are a sign that the PA and Israel still fear Hamas’s growing popularity in the West Bank.
