The Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces launched a campaign of arrests targeting Islamic Jihad cadres in Jenin on Sunday, coinciding with the Israeli occupation forces' arrest of 25 Palestinians during a campaign of raids in the West Bank, accompanied by an attack by settlers on a number of Palestinian vehicles in Ramallah.

Islamic Jihad sources told Al Jazeera that the PA security services launched a campaign of mass arrests targeting Hamas cadres in the town of Jaba in Jenin governorate, including prominent activists including Eid Hamamra, Muhammad Alawneh, Muhammad Malaisheh, Moamen Fashafsha, and Imad Khalili.

The group considered the arrest campaign "a nationally and morally unacceptable crime against the people and their resistance," and Islamic Jihad said that the Palestinian Authority refused to release activists from the Al-Quds Brigades resistance that it had arrested a few days ago.

There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian Authority on the campaign of arrests of Islamic Jihad operatives. But the security services released journalist Aqeel Awawdeh after he was detained by the Preventive Security Service in Beitunia since last Thursday evening.

Yesterday, the court decided to release Awawdeh on personal bail after rejecting a request by the Public Prosecution to extend his detention for an additional 15 days to complete the investigation procedures.

The Preventive Security Service in Ramallah arrested Awawdeh after he posted a video on social media criticizing a recent statement by a spokesman for the security services in which he denied the existence of political arrests in the West Bank.

Israeli raids

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club said that the Israeli occupation forces arrested 25 Palestinians during a campaign of raids carried out in different areas of the West Bank, including 16 Palestinians from the Hebron governorate alone.

According to the statement of the Prisoners' Club, the rest of the arrests were distributed in the cities of: Nablus, Ramallah, Jericho, occupied Jerusalem, and Jenin. The number of arrests carried out by the occupation army during the first half of this year was estimated at about 4,<> cases.

Palestinians inspect their cars previously burned by settlers near Ramallah (Reuters)

Occupation Attacks

In conjunction with the campaign of raids and arrests carried out by the occupying forces, settlers yesterday attacked a number of Palestinian vehicles in several areas in the occupied West Bank.

According to eyewitnesses, settlers gathered near the Beit El checkpoint under the protection of the occupation army and attacked a number of Palestinian vehicles, shattering the windows of a number of them.

According to witnesses, residents of Beitin gathered at the entrance to the village to counter the settlers' attack on their homes, but the Israeli army dispersed them by firing tear gas canisters, stun grenades and rubber-coated metal bullets, resulting in suffocation injuries, which were treated in the field.

In a related context, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said that settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles at the entrance to the village of Haris, west of Salfit, in the northern West Bank.

Wafa quoted local sources as saying that the Israeli army stormed the village of Haris, and fired tear gas and stun grenades at Palestinians who confronted the settlers, which led to the suffocation of a number of citizens.

Dozens of settlers gathered on the main Qalqilya-Nablus road, in the northern West Bank, under the protection of Israeli soldiers, obstructing the movement of Palestinians in the area. Wafa noted that settlers carried racist banners and slogans against Palestinians.

According to UN data seen by Anatolia, settlers carried out 525 attacks in the West Bank from the beginning of 2023 until July 4, 137 of which resulted in injuries to Palestinians and 388 attacks caused damage to their property.