WEST BANK, (PIC)
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) launched widespread overnight and early Monday raids across several cities and towns in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, carrying out home invasions, field interrogations, arrests, and attacks amid escalating military operations and settler violence.
In Tubas and Aqaba in the northern West Bank, the IOF stormed the areas and conducted extensive searches of homes, arresting a young man after raiding his house. Similar incursions were reported in Far’ata east of Qalqilya, Deir Abu Daif east of Jenin, and Zeita north of Tulkarem.
In the southern West Bank, a 19-year-old Palestinian was shot in both legs during clashes with Israeli forces in the town of Beit Fajjar near Bethlehem, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. The IOF troops also raided the city of al-Khalil and the town of Deir Samet west of Dura.
In Nablus governorate, Israeli forces arrested Ahlam Ishtiya, the mother of prisoner Yassar Mundhir Ishtiya, after storming and searching the family home in the village of Salem east of the city of Nablus. Journalist Anas Hawari was also arrested during a raid on Sebastia, northwest of Nablus.
In Tulkarem, Israeli forces arrested two people from the town of Zeita after raiding their homes. Local sources said one of them was detained as pressure on his son to surrender himself.
Meanwhile, an injured man was arrested in al-Khalil after Israeli forces stormed and searched his home in the Al-Murabba area of the city.
In Ramallah, Israeli forces arrested a young man from the town of Al-Mughayyir northeast of the city following a raid on his family home.
The Asra Media Office said the continued arrests of prisoners’ relatives, journalists, and wounded Palestinians reflect an escalating policy of collective punishment through systematic raids, abuse, and destruction across the West Bank.
Israeli forces also stormed the town of Al-Ram north of Occupied Jerusalem and raided a house near Jenin refugee camp, while Palestinian groups called for escalating resistance and confronting Israeli forces and settlers throughout the West Bank.
In the northern Jordan Valley, Israeli forces raided residential communities Monday morning and began confiscating agricultural tractors, facilities, vehicles, and water tanks belonging to residents.
According to the Atouf Village Council, a large Israeli military force accompanied by jeeps and heavy machinery stormed the areas of Atouf and Ras al-Ahmar, confiscating residents’ vehicles and targeting farmers’ transportation across Ras al-Ahmar, Hamsa al-Tahta, and Atouf.
Israeli forces also chased vehicles in the Al-Baqi’a plain and declared the area stretching from Hamsa al-Tahta to Ras al-Ahmar a closed military zone.
On Sunday, Israeli bulldozers closed a dirt road with earth mounds and destroyed vital water networks in the Atouf plain east of Tammun, south of Tubas, as part of ongoing measures targeting Palestinian farmers and agricultural lands.
Local sources said Israeli bulldozers stormed the area, blocked the main road used by farmers, and destroyed water pipelines supplying agricultural lands in the plain.
Residents said the attacks are part of continuous bulldozing operations over recent months aimed at paving a new settlement road extending nearly 22 kilometers.
The latest measures mark a dangerous new stage in the struggle over the northern Jordan Valley following an Israeli court decision paving the way for large-scale settlement and military projects in the area, historically considered one of Palestine’s most important agricultural regions.
Atouf village remains under severe military and geographic siege, surrounded on its eastern side by the illegal Israeli settlement of Beka’ot, while deep trenches separate the village from its eastern lands, effectively turning it into what residents describe as an open-air prison under arbitrary military control.
Israeli forces also use military gates surrounding the village as launch points for daily incursions into Tammun, Tubas, and nearby areas, as part of a systematic effort to empty the land of its inhabitants and seize remaining natural and water resources.
Despite the escalating pressure, residents of Atouf and the Al-Baqi’a area insist on remaining on their land, stressing that confiscation and settlement policies will not erase the deeply rooted Palestinian identity of the region.