Israel arrests over 10,000 Palestinians in West Bank since October, prisoner groups say

Israeli forces have arrested over 10,000 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since the start of the war on Gaza in October, Palestinian prisoner groups said.

A joint statement published on Saturday by the Prisoners Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners Club added that Israeli forces have arrested at least 40 Palestinians in the past two days, including women, children, and former prisoners who were freed from Israeli jails.

The prisoner groups added that the arrests took place all over the West Bank, and often came following violent attacks on families, as well as vandalism and destruction of Palestinians’ homes and property.

"The total number of arrests since the start of the ongoing war of extermination in Gaza has reached over 10,000 citizens in the West Bank, including Jerusalem," the statement read.

The head of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, Abdullah Al-Zaghri, told Al-Jazeera Arabic that violations against Palestinians in the West Bank continue daily in the West Bank, as well as in Gaza.

"Thousands have been arrested in Gaza, and no one has been able to register them and document their names because the occupation continues to practice a policy of forced disappearance and not disclose any information relating to prisoners in the Strip" he said.

Since October, Israeli forces have also killed 620 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and wounded over 5,400 others, official Palestinian figures state.

Rights groups including Amnesty International have raised alarm over Israel’s increased attacks and arrests on the occupied territory since October.

Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch also said Israeli security forces have “unlawfully used lethal force in fatal shootings of Palestinians in the West Bank.”

"These killings are taking place at a level without recent precedent in an environment in which Israeli forces have no need to fear that their government will hold them accountable," Richard Weir, the senior crisis and conflict researcher at Human Rights Watch said in a statement.