JENIN (PIC)– IOF troops on Sunday evening closed all roads and entrances connecting the Arab American University in Jenin to nearby villages and towns and detained hundreds of students employees and citizens.
Witnesses reported that the soldiers encircled the university and erected road barriers as warplanes hovered at low altitude over the campus. They added that landing operations were seen in nearby mountains.
They said that the soldiers blocked staffers and students from leaving campus and detained them for a few hours.
Meanwhile locals in nearby Talfit village said that IOF soldiers besieged a number of buildings amidst intensified firing and launched large-scale search operations.
The soldiers detained a number of families after forcing them to leave their homes and used dogs in searching the buildings the locals said adding that sounds of explosions were heard in water wells and animal pens owned by those people.
Cameramen and photojournalists of a number of foreign and local news agencies said that they were chased by IOF patrols while trying to cover the events.
Seif Al-Dahla working for AFP said that one of the soldiers detained him and threatened all reporters with arrest and beating if they did not leave the area. Another journalist said that soldiers beat him without any justification.
