Israel detains Palestinians during ongoing attack on Ramallah

Israel detained 15 Palestinians including a journalist in Ramallah, just after a home was demolished during an ongoing assault on the West Bank occupied city.

The Israeli army detained the Palestinians during raids on the occupied city of Ramallah in the early hours of Wednesday, including Ali Dar Ali, a journalist from Palestine Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), after ransacking his home.

PBC slammed the Israeli detention of Ali, branding the move part of Israel’s wider attack on Palestinian

media platforms, particularly ones that are considered well-established official outlets.

The broadcasting centre had demanded the immediate release of Ali and called for Israel to be held to account for its targeting of Palestinian freedom of speech.

“These measures are intended to silence the Palestinian voice and dim the picture so that it can commit its crimes without any noise,” PBC said in a statement.

“Such measures will not deter us or stop us from doing our national duty toward our cause.”

The arrests came a day after Israel demolished the house of a Palestinian civilian in occupied Ramallah.

Israeli forces, accompanied by bulldozers and heavy machinery, demolished a house belonging to Palestinian resident Mohammed Ali in the town of Deir Dibwan, east of Ramallah on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, Israel confiscated land from a Palestinian villager near the occupied city of Nablus.

Israeli forces invaded the Palestinian village of Einabous, south of the occupied city of Nablus where they began to raze lands owned by a Palestinian civilian, to expand the illegal settlement of Yitzhar, which is notorious for being the largest settlement in the area.

Ghassan Daghlas, Palestinian Authority official who monitors Israel’s illegal settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, said the land was owned by Hashim Mustafa Al’an.

The village of Einabous has been targeted by settlers for arson attacks for some months pending the expansion.