Ramallah, July 1 (RHC)-- Israeli forces have abducted nearly 9,500 Palestinians in violent raids across the occupied West Bank since the regime’s onslaught on the Gaza Strip started last October. The revelation was made in a joint statement by the Palestinian Prisoners' Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society on Sunday.
The statement noted that the occupying regime’s forces have abducted more than 9,450 Palestinians in the West Bank, including in the occupied city of al-Quds, during the said period.
The two Palestinian organizations said the figure included those who were abducted from their homes and at military checkpoints, as well as those who surrendered under pressure, and those who were taken by Israeli forces as hostages.
The statement added that at least 20 Palestinians, including siblings and former prisoners, have been abducted by Israeli forces during the past two days alone in various parts of the West Bank, including the cities of al-Khalil, also known as Hebron, Tulkarm, Nablus, and al-Quds.
These figures do not include thousands of Palestinian adults and children that Israeli forces have detained, tortured and interrogated in makeshift prisons across Gaza, outside any legal or civilian oversight.
The development came despite the fact that the regime is facing problems for keeping Palestinian abductees in its already overcrowded prisons.
Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, recently reported that the regime’s military and the so-called internal security service, Shin Bet, have been forced to cancel a number of arrest campaigns due to a lack of space in prisons.
Meanwhile, conditions for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have worsened considerably with detainees experiencing limited access to essential rights, including food, water, electricity, medical care, family visits, and legal assistance.
While the Palestinian media say nearly a dozen inmates have died in Israeli prisons since the onslaught on Gaza started, an investigation by Israeli daily Haaretz revealed that the number is actually more than two dozen. Various rights groups, however, have put the number even higher.
Since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza, the regime’s brutal crackdown on the West Bank has also escalated, resulting in near-daily raids into villages and cities across the occupied territory.
Nearly 550 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or extremist Jewish settlers since the Gaza war began.
The regime’s genocide in Gaza has also killed more than 37,800 Palestinians, most of them women and children, while leaving nearly 87,000 others injured.
