🔴Palestinian Prisoner's Society: Around 70 arrests in the West Bank Since Hebron Operation; Hundreds Subjected to Field Interrogations

🔴Hebron at the forefront of the arrest and raid campaign, with widespread targeting of released prisoners and their families

24/10/2026

Ramallah, occupied Palestine – The Palestinian Prisoner's Society said that Israeli occupation forces are continuing their aggression against the West Bank. The PPS explained that the occupation authorities announced on Friday the launch of a “large-scale military operation” focused on the Hebron Governorate, following the announcement that an operation had been carried out there. According to the cases the PPS has been able to monitor and document, approximately 70 arrests were recorded across various West Bank governorates from Friday until dawn on Saturday. Some of those detained have been released, while arrests and field interrogations involving hundreds of Palestinians continue.

The PPS noted that the majority of those arrested are former prisoners who spent years in Israeli occupation prisons. A significant proportion of those subjected to field interrogations are also former prisoners, including individuals released under prisoner-exchange agreements. This reflects an approach that expands the scope of persecution to include released prisoners, their families, and their social circles, turning a previous arrest into a permanent “stigma” that follows individuals even after they have completed their sentences.

It added that raids targeted hundreds of homes in Hebron and were accompanied by the forced displacement of residents from specific areas of the city. Dozens of homes were converted into military barracks and used as centers for field interrogations. The raids also involved vandalism, destruction, and searches of homes and their contents.

The incursions were not limited to Hebron but extended to several governorates, specifically targeting the homes of former prisoners, released prisoners, and families of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces. These included a raid on the home of released prisoner Nael al-Barghouthi in the town of Kobar, in the Ramallah area, where extensive vandalism and destruction were inflicted. The homes of other released prisoners were also targeted in Qalqilya, Jenin, Nablus, Jericho, Salfit, Tubas, Bethlehem, and Tulkarem.

The PPS pointed out that the majority of those who were subsequently released had been subjected to assaults of varying severity, as well as handcuffing, blindfolding, threats, and intimidation, particularly those who had previously been arrested. These practices included warning them against any political or organizational activity, while threatening leaflets were distributed in several West Bank towns. This indicates that the objective goes beyond the arrests themselves to include intimidating society and restricting its right to freedom of expression and public participation.

The PPS stressed that the occupation uses every operation targeting its soldiers as a pretext to escalate its retaliatory policies against Palestinians. These measures range from expanding arrests and raids to demolishing homes, forcibly displacing residents, and imposing further restrictions and siege measures. Such policies are part of an established approach that operates alongside the system of military checkpoints and iron gates, including those known as the “yellow gates.” Their impact has intensified since the genocidal war, tightening restrictions on entrances to towns and governorates and on the movement of residents.

The PPS affirmed that these practices cannot be treated as temporary measures or short-term consequences of an incident on the ground. They form part of a policy of collective punishment, carried out in the absence of accountability or legal consequences. This lack of accountability encourages the continuation and expansion of these policies as part of the system of apartheid operating in the West Bank and as an extension of the ongoing crime of genocide against our people in Gaza.

It should be noted that more than 26,000 arrests have been recorded in the West Bank in the aftermath of the genocide, in addition to thousands of arrests in Gaza. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have also been subjected to extensive and ongoing field interrogations across the West Bank and throughout the various Palestinian territories, affecting every segment of Palestinian society.