RAMALLAH, (PIC)
The total number of Palestinian citizens arrested in the occupied West Bank, since October 7, 2023, has mounted to more than 8,875, according to human rights groups.
In a joint statement on Sunday evening, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), the Commission of Detainees and Ex-detainees Affairs, and Addameer Foundation for Human Rights, explained that the total number of the arrests among women amounted to about 295, while the number of detained children surged to 630.
Since October 7 last year, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have arrested 76 journalists, 49 of whom from the West Bank and 12 from the Gaza Strip.
The statement added that administrative detention orders have surpassed 5,900, including new orders and renewals against Palestinian prisoners, including children and women.
The three human rights groups also indicated that the IOF ongoing arrest campaigns, since October 7, have been carried out with escalated level of violence where Palestinian detainees have been subjected to various crimes and violations, including abuses, severe beatings, and threats against detainees and their families, in addition to widespread sabotage and destruction operations in citizens’ homes including confiscation of vehicles, money, gold and jewelry as well as the destruction of infrastructure, specifically in Tulkarem and Jenin cities and their camps.
During the same period, at least 18 prisoners have been martyred in Israeli occupation prisons and detention camps. The IOF also carried out field executions, including members of detainees’ families, and escalated the arrest of the wounded.
The statement of the human rights groups also indicated that 16 bodies of martyr prisoners who were announced dead after October 7 are still withheld in Israel’s custody.
The Israeli occupation authorities have been pursuing the policy of forced disappearance against Gaza detainees, given that their numbers are estimated in thousands.
By the first of May 2024, the total number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails has exceeded 9,300 including more than 3,400 administrative detainees.
