Many Palestinians wounded, detained as Israel raids West Bank towns

Several Palestinians were injured and detained at dawn on Monday as Israel launched fresh raids in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces raided several homes in the flashpoint city of Nablus and took away two young men - Yazan Aslan and Ihab Abu Duhair - local sources told The New Arab’s sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

مصادر محلية: قوات الاحتلال تعتقل الشاب يزن أصلان عقب اقتحام منزله في شارع 15 بنابلس. pic.twitter.com/rRrqv0igD8

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) April 24, 2023

قوات الاحتلال تعتقل الشاب الفلسطيني ايهاب فريد أبو ضهير وذلك عقب مداهمة منزله في حي المعاجين غرب نابلس الليلة. pic.twitter.com/TiGJ5cexwD

— FreePalestine (@FreePal82397730) April 24, 2023

Former prisoner Alaa al-Araj was also briefly detained, interrogated, and beaten before being released, the sources said.

لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله..
تحقيق ميداني من الإحتلال مع الأخ الحبيب علاء سميح الأعرج قبل قليل، دون اعتقاله.@eng_araj #نابلس pic.twitter.com/CMIXiLTnjR

— Yahya basheer | يحيى بشير (@Yahyamo187) April 24, 2023

"They broke into the house and asked me what my name was. They attacked me, one [Israeli soldier] began choking me and another hit me on the head," he said in a video shared on social media.

"I was speaking to them in Hebrew asking what’s wrong? I was asking do you want me? do you want something from me? Then they dragged me outside to the first floor," he added.

Alaa said he was choked and hit on the head as they took him downstairs from his flat.

In the Askar al-Jadeed camp, east of Nablus, Israeli forces also arrested two men - Youssef al-Ashqar and Muhammad Sharaiya - after raiding their homes.

The raids resulted in the Lions' Den armed group confronting the Israeli soldiers, who later withdrew after facing a hail of bullets and homemade bombs by Palestinian fighters.

⭕ إطلاق نار كثيف يستهدف قوات الاحتلال خلال اقتحامها مدينة نابلس قبل قليل pic.twitter.com/EDu88mMOYL

— إذاعة الأقصى - عاجل (@Alaqsavoice_Brk) April 24, 2023

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli forces arrested former prisoner Hamdan Hamayel and Abdallah Khudair during raids in the town of Beita, south of Nablus.

Confrontations also broke out there between Israeli soldiers and the town's residents.

مصادر محلية: قوات الاحتلال تعتقل الأسير المحرر محمد حمدان حمايل والشاب عبد الله خضير عقب اقتحام منزليهما في بلدة #بيتا جنوب #نابلس. pic.twitter.com/Nkj9IuWdnb

— علي سوارقي (@sawarqi47568) April 24, 2023

In the Aqbat Jabr camp south of Jericho, three young Palestinian men were detained while another four were injured and taken to hospital for treatment, sources told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

The northern West Bank town of Baeed also witnessed raids, where former prisoners Abdallah Harzallah, Yasser Amarneh and Saeed Abadi - who works for the Palestinian intelligence service - were also taken away.

Dozens of Palestinians have been arrested by Israeli forces since Eid al-Fitr on Friday, with four from occupied East Jerusalem released on Sunday.

The Israeli military has raided towns and villages across the West Bank nearly every day for over a year.

They and Israeli settlers have killed almost 100 Palestinians so far in 2023.

The violence has worsened since Benjamin Netanyahu formed his new far-right cabinet, believed to be Israel’s most far-right government ever and includes extremists who have made inflammatory remarks about the Palestinians.