Israeli soldiers mess with a house in the West Bank (Reuters)
The Palestinian Prisoners' Club said that the Israeli occupation army has escalated its attacks since the battle of Toufan Al-Aqsa, such as theft and seizure of property from homes belonging to the families of Palestinian detainees, including money, gold, phones, computers and cars, in addition to the extensive vandalism and destruction it caused inside the homes it storms.
The club added – in a statement – that the occupation targeted infrastructure, including bulldozing streets and public property, as was done in Jenin and Tulkarm mainly, and demolishing homes belonging to the families of detainees and martyrs.
According to the statement, the raids have affected exchange shops during the past period, during which millions of Israeli shekels were unlawfully seized.
The Israeli occupation forces raided several exchange shops in the governorates of Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Hebron, Jenin and Tulkarm, and the raid was accompanied by the confiscation of millions of shekels (a dollar equals 3.62 shekels), and the arrest of 21 owners and workers of these companies, according to an Israeli army statement, while the Israel Broadcasting Corporation spoke of the confiscation of 10 million shekels ($ 2.8 million).
From the West Bank to Gaza
The West Bank was no exception to the behavior of the occupation soldiers and the theft of Palestinian money, as the same happened in the Gaza Strip during the ongoing aggression against it until now.
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that since the beginning of the ground incursion into the Strip, the Israeli army has seized 5 million shekels, which were transferred to the Finance Department of the Ministry of Defense.
The newspaper explained that the "spoils unit" of the Army's Technology and Logistics Division confiscated the seized money, among other things.
Not only did the occupation soldiers steal Palestinians' money, but they also broke into their homes, tampered with them and seized what they could seize from their property and belongings, as shown by videos circulated on social media platforms of Israeli accounts that they posted and boasted about.
It should be noted that these clips, published by Israeli soldiers boasting of looting and robbing Palestinian property, are later deleted because they provoke controversy, even among official Israel, which quickly denies these acts, claiming that they "do not represent the values and morals of the Israeli army".
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Systematic policy
According to the report of the Prisoners' Club, the occupation has pursued a policy of seizing money and property, which has escalated over the past few years significantly, and has turned into one of the most prominent fixed policies, and has been mainly concentrated in Jerusalem, through the introduction of laws and legislation, to legitimize the seizures.
The report pointed out that the most areas where seizures and thefts were recorded are the Jerusalem governorate, which mainly witnesses this policy, and the Hebron governorate, specifically after the seventh of October 2023.
The club explained that dozens of cars belong to the families of detainees seized from Hebron, in addition to money and gold daily, and through follow-up, the majority of raids and raids on homes, record thefts.
The latest raids on the homes of the families of the detainees were what took place at dawn on Monday against the families of the detainees Nael Barghouti, who spent a total of 44 years in the occupation prisons, Rabie Barghouti, one of the authors of the Shalit deal re-arrested, and Murad Barghouti, detained since 2003 and sentenced to life, all from the town of Kobar in Ramallah, where their homes were stormed and extensive vandalism and destruction was caused, and two vehicles and money were seized.
No soldier who stole Palestinian money and property in the West Bank or Gaza Strip has been held accountable.
The same thing is happening now, and has happened in the past in Gaza, where the occupation soldiers have already stolen Palestinian homes during previous Israeli battles and military operations in the Gaza Strip, including what the Israeli newspaper Maariv highlighted years ago, where it asked at the beginning of its investigation, "Did IDF soldiers steal money from Palestinian citizens during military operations?"
According to the investigation, residents of the al-Fukhari area in the Gaza Strip accused fighters of the Golani Brigade's 51st Battalion of stealing money from their homes, as soldiers took advantage of the curfew imposed on residents.
Maariv stated that the thefts occurred on July 26, 2007, when the occupying forces arrived in the village late at night, and soldiers removed the residents from the houses and searched them, then gathered each family in one closed room, then searched the rest of the house, and settled inside it for several hours, at which point the thefts were said to have occurred.
Source : Al Jazeera + Agencies