Israeli forces arrest 15 Palestinians in occupied West Bank, one Israeli soldier reportedly injured

Israeli forces arrested 15 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including a senior leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), during a series of raids on Palestinian cities, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club reported.

In the early hours of Thursday, 7 September, Israeli forces raided the refugee camps of Jalazon, near Raah, the refugee camp of Dheisheh in Bethlehem, and the cities of Ramallah and Hebron.

In the Jalazon refugee camp, Israeli forces arrested 64-year-old Said Nakhleh, a senior leader of the PIJ, after surrounding his house. Israeli forces also arrested a student at Birzeit University in Ramallah.

In the refugee camp of Dheisheh, confrontations erupted between Israeli forces and young men of the camp, where an Israeli soldier was reportedly injured.

The armored vehicle belonging to the invaders caught fire after being targeted with Molotov cocktails in the Bethlehem Dheisheh camp#SahabatPalestina_ID pic.twitter.com/sRfuwNvz19

— behind the shadows (@Face_Of_Darknes) September 7, 2023

"This was the first raid to Dheisheh in three weeks, which is a long time of quiet in Dheisheh", Mohammad Abu Ayash, a resident of Dheisheh, told The New Arab. "Confrontations were very violent and lasted several hours, and even spread to the neighbouring town of Doha".

"Occupation soldiers left behind posters of a soldier who was killed earlier in the year in a Palestinian attack", he added. Israeli forces arrested five Palestinians in Dheisheh, including the local secretary of Fatah, in the camp.

On Wednesday, Israeli forces also raided the refugee camp of Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank, for the second time in a week and arrested one Palestinian.

"It seems that the occupation is conducting more targeted raids lately in Jenin, focusing on specific individuals to arrest", Mostafa Shita, the director of the Jenin Freedom Theater, told TNA.

"However, fighters in the camp continue to confront the raids in the same way, like Wednesday's raid, which met very fierce resistance", said Shita.

Young Palestinian men in Dheisheh Refugee Camp
in Bethlehem resisted the Israeli army incursion and arrest operation... https://t.co/vOM0rB3oAJ

— Marian Houk (@Marianhouk) September 7, 2023

"People in Jenin have become accustomed to raids and are always taking precautions to avoid deadly victims", he added. "At the same time, we haven't recovered yet from the large attack in July, as the destruction of property is still untouched, although basic services like water and electricity are back to most houses".

In July, Israeli forces raided Jenin for 48 hours, destroying most of its infrastructure, killing ten Palestinians and forcing around 3,000 Palestinians to leave their homes.

Israeli forces have escalated raids into Palestinian cities since late 2021 as confrontations with Palestinians spiked.

Since the beginning of 2023, Israeli forces have killed more than 200 Palestinians during deadly raids into occupied West Bank cities and refugee camps and have arrested more than 3,600.