Occupied Jerusalem, May 18 (SANA) Israeli forces carried out a series of raids across multiple areas of the West Bank on Monday, arresting nine Palestinians, while settlers continued attacks on Palestinian property and agricultural land.
According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, Israeli forces raided homes in the Dhannaba suburb east of Tulkarm at dawn and arrested three Palestinians. Two brothers, including a 15-year-old boy, were also detained in the town of Tell, southwest of Nablus.
Four additional Palestinians, including a child from Hebron province, were arrested after their homes were searched and their belongings reportedly damaged during the raids.
Israeli forces also set up several military checkpoints at the entrances to Hebron and surrounding towns, villages and refugee camps, while closing a number of roads using iron gates, concrete blocks and earth barriers.
Military vehicles carried out incursions into villages in the Nablus and Bethlehem areas, where house searches were also reported.
Local sources told WAFA that Israeli bulldozers uprooted centuries-old olive trees along a 500-meter stretch in the town of Azzun near the Ma’ale Shomron settlement in Qalqilya province.
In southern Hebron, settlers reportedly set fire to a sheep pen and a traditional clay oven using Molotov cocktails in the Wadi al-Rakhim area, injuring the owner as he attempted to extinguish the flames.
For the second consecutive day, settlers also entered the town of Sinjil northeast of Ramallah, where they carried out provocative rituals near the town entrance.
Palestinian officials and rights groups have repeatedly warned that continued arrest campaigns and settler attacks are contributing to escalating tensions across the occupied West Bank.
IZ/RK
