IDF steps up West Bank arrests with 33 detained overnight

IDF troops arrested dozens of Palestinian suspects during raids across the West Bank overnight Wednesday in one of the largest hauls since the beginning of the current wave of terror attacks, the army said Thursday morning.

A total of 33 Palestinians were arrested, including seven men described as Hamas members. Twenty-two of those detained are suspected of direct involvement in recent attacks on civilians and security forces, the IDF said.

The suspects were transferred to the Shin Bet security agency for interrogation.

Twenty-nine Israelis and three non-Israelis have been killed in a wave of Palestinian terrorism and violence since October. About 170 Palestinians have also been killed, some two-thirds of them while attacking Israelis, and the rest during clashes with troops, according to the Israeli army.

While the IDF carries out operations most nights, arresting handfuls of suspects in each operation, Wednesday’s raids represent a significant increase in the number of people detained.

During the raids, several Palestinian youths clashed with soldiers in the West Bank town of Ramallah, according to Palestinian news site Wafa. Two youths were reportedly injured lightly to moderately by shrapnel from shots fired in their direction.

In a separate operation, combat engineers entered the West Bank village of Qabatiyah to map out the home of Balal Abu Zid, accused of helping three others carry out a deadly attack outside Jerusalem’s Old City earlier this month. The mapping procedure is conducted ahead of home demolitions.

The three attackers, Ahmed Abou Al-Roub, Mohammed Kameel and Ahmad Rajeh Ismail Zakarneh, also from Qabatiya shot and stabbed a group of border police, killing 19-year-old Hadar Cohen. A second policewoman was seriously injured in the attack.

Qabatiya, near Jenin, is one of a handful of Palestinian population centers from which several terrorists have emerged in the current round of violence, a list that includes the village of Samua near Hebron, and the Shuafat and Qalandiya refugee camps around Jerusalem.

The practice of demolishing the family homes of terrorists has been criticized by non-governmental groups, but government officials have defended its use as a deterrent against attacks. Critics claim that in addition to being a form of collective punishment, house demolitions could motivate family members of terrorists to launch attacks themselves.

On Tuesday night the IDF arrested 19 suspects in raids across the West Bank and seized weapons stockpiles including M16 rifles, handguns, hand grenades and combat gear presumed to be held in preparation for terrorist attacks in two caches in Nablus and near Jenin.