Celebrations in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa for the Jewish holiday of Purim (Reuters)

Dozens of settlers stormed the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim. In parallel, the occupation forces escalated their campaigns of arrests and raids in the West Bank.

The Islamic Endowments Department in occupied Jerusalem said that 228 settlers stormed - today, Monday - the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque to celebrate the Jewish “Purim” holiday, under the protection of the occupation police, which continues to prevent thousands of Palestinians from reaching the mosque.

The number of Palestinian detainees in the occupied West Bank has risen to 7,770 since October 7, after the Israeli army arrested 15 Palestinians on Monday night, including a child and former prisoners.

According to a joint statement by the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority (governmental) and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club (Ahli), Israeli forces arrested - from yesterday evening, Sunday until Monday morning - at least 15 citizens from the West Bank, bringing the number of arrests after October 7 to More than 7770.

According to the statement, the arrests were distributed in the governorates of Hebron and Bethlehem (south), Qalqilya and Jenin (north), and Ramallah and Jerusalem (central).

It is noteworthy that the data related to arrest cases includes those whom Israel maintained in detention, and those whom it later released.

Since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, the occupation army has escalated raids and arrests in the West Bank, resulting in confrontations with Palestinians that left 450 dead and about 4,750 wounded, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

In parallel, Israel is waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip that has left tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, a humanitarian catastrophe and massive destruction of infrastructure and property, which led to Israel being brought before the International Court of Justice on charges of committing genocide.

Source: Al Jazeera + Anatolia