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Israeli forces rounded up 22 Palestinians in overnight raids across the occupied West Bank, according to the Israeli military on Monday.
The individuals were arrested for “suspected involvement in popular terrorist activities”, the army said in a statement, without elaborating on the nature of these activities.
The Israeli army frequently carries out wide-ranging arrest campaigns across the occupied West Bank on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians.
According to Palestinian figures, some 6,500 Palestinians continue to languish in Israeli detention facilities, including scores of women and hundreds of minors.
The Arab League has warned of accelerating Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank.In a report issued late Sunday, the Cairo-based league said Israeli settlement building was taking place “in an accelerating pace amid U.S. acceptance and encouragement and absence of international accountability."Accusing the Israeli government of "violating" international law, the pan-Arab body said the Israeli actions in the occupied territories "amount to war crimes", citing house demolitions, displacement of Palestinian residents and confiscation of their lands.According to the report, Israeli investments in East Jerusalem hit 4.5 billion shekels ($1.24 billion), 87% of them were allocated for Jewish settlements and only 13% for Palestinian neighborhoods."Israel systematically allocates lands for Jews as part of a policy that can only be described as apartheid," the report said.On Sunday, the Israeli government approved a plan to expand a Jewish settlement in the West Bank city of Hebron.Israel’s Netanyahu threatens Hamas with ‘very strong blows’Israel bans fuel shipments into GazaIsraeli officials oppose decision to halt Gaza fuelIsraeli settlement building in the occupied territories is one of the biggest obstacles to the resumption of peace negotiations with the Palestinians, which has been stalled for years.According to Palestinian figures, more than 700,000 Jewish settlers now live on 196 settlements (built with Israeli government approval) and more than 200 settler outposts (built without its approval) across the occupied West Bank.International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity on the land to be illegal.Two Palestinians injured in Israeli settler run-overIsraeli settlers destroy olive groves near NablusProtests won’t stop until Gaza siege lifted: Haniyeh
Israeli settlement building ‘accelerating’: Arab League