The Israeli army arrested some 30 Palestinians during raids in the occupied West Bank overnight Monday to Tuesday, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) leader’s wife.
Abla Saadat, wife of PFLP secretary general Ahmed Saadat who has been in prison since 2002, was arrested along with two other women in the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate in the central West Bank.
In a video shared to social media, Saadat’s daughter said an Israeli military force of more than 20 soldiers stormed the family home and arrested her mother.
"The whole time they were walking around the house, not [yet] searching, but going from room to room," she said.
"Then an officer introduced himself to my mother, and told her you need to come with us to Ofer" – referring to an Israeli prison in the West Bank – "but I asked them why should she go with you? Why do you want to take her?"
She added that "they were looking for anything" in the house to use against her mother, who was asked to change her clothes before being taken away.
"The army photographed the house's belongings, including Palestinian flags, and searched the house before leaving," she said.
She hoped that her mother’s arrest was merely for questioning and that she wouldn’t stay in prison.
Her father, Ahmed, has been in prison since his arrest in January 2002 on charges of arms smuggling. He was kept in a jail under US, British and Canadian supervision before being moved to an Israeli detention facility in 2006.
Two other women were detained by Israeli forces in the Ramallah Al-Bireh governorate, including Birzeit University media student Duaa al-Qadi and Tahrir Jaber.
Palestinian journalist Qutayba Hamdan was also taken from his home.
Military raids were carried out in other governorates across the West Bank, which has seen a large spike in incursions and violence since the start of the Gaza war on 7 October.
More than 10,700 Palestinians in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem have been arrested by Israel since October 7, according to official Palestinian figures and rights groups.
This is in addition to the Palestinian detainees already in Israeli prisons.
Over 700 others have been killed by deadly military raids and attacks by extremist Jewish settlers, with an additional 5,700 injured.