Israeli arrest campaigns see massive uptick in West Bank, reports say
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The report stated that the total number of arrests in the West Bank has reached approximately 16,400 since the start of the war on Gaza.
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Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian man during an army raid in the West Bank refugee camp of Balata on Wednesday, April 9, 2025 (AP)
Palestinian organizations concerned with prisoner affairs revealed on Thursday a sharp escalation in Israeli arrest campaigns across the West Bank, with nearly 800 Palestinians detained in March alone, including women and children.
In a joint statement, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association confirmed that among those arrested were 18 women and 84 children. The statement also noted that hundreds of Palestinians across the West Bank were subjected to field interrogations.
The report stated that the total number of arrests in the West Bank has reached approximately 16,400 since October 7, 2023, including 510 women and 1,300 children. It also highlighted that raids and arrests continue at an unprecedented pace, particularly in the northern governorates of Jenin and Tulkarm, where Israeli forces have carried out field executions, forced displacement, and widespread destruction of infrastructure and homes.
The organizations pointed out that the reported figures do not include the thousands of arrests in the Gaza Strip, raising serious concerns about the fate of hundreds of detainees held by the Israeli regime from Gaza amid a lack of clear information about their whereabouts or legal and humanitarian conditions.
Thousands of administrative detainees
According to the Palestine Today agency, the number of administrative detainees — Palestinians held without charge or trial — rose to 3,498 by the end of March, including over 100 children.
The statement described this figure as "the highest in decades, even during the peaks of the Palestinian uprisings," and criticized what it called the "legalization of violations" through perfunctory trials in Israeli military courts.
The statement also reported the death of three Palestinian detainees inside Israeli prisons during March, without providing further details, citing "deliberate medical neglect and mistreatment."
Meanwhile, on Wednesday evening, the Israeli army extended its "Operation Iron Wall" to include new areas in the northern West Bank through the end of the year. The military operation, initially launched in Jenin, began in January 2025.
'Israel' starved Palestinian child to death in prison, autopsy reveals
An autopsy has revealed that a Palestinian teenager, 17-year-old Walid Khaled Abdullah Ahmad, was starved to death while in Israeli custody, Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) reported on Thursday.
Ahmad, a resident of the town of Silwad, died at the Israeli Megiddo Prison in late March under harrowing conditions.
According to DCIP, Ahmad’s death was likely the result of "starvation, dehydration from colitis-induced diarrhea, and infectious complications all compounded by prolonged malnutrition and denial of life-saving medical intervention."
