286 Children 76 Women among 8000 Detained

IOF Wound 4 Palestinians, Detain 9 Others in Occupied Territory
286 Children, 76 Women among 8000 Detainees in Israeli Prisons: PNA

At least four Palestinians were wounded by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) gunfire in the occupied Palestinian territory; Palestinian medical and security sources said Monday.

IOF troops opened fire at residential neighborhoods in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, wounding three Palestinians, including two teenagers, medics said.

Two were identified as Murad Abu Zayed, 16, and Yousef al-Hems, 17.

IOF bulldozers also razed agricultural land in al-Qasas area, near the Gaza Strip borderline with Egypt, witnesses said.

Meanwhile, a 16-year-old Palestinian was wounded when IOF troops raided the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem Wendsday afternoon, medical sources confirmed.

Amin al-Qarout was shot in the leg by IOF soldiers in the town’s western neighborhood, witnesses said.

Also in the northern West Bank, IOF detained six Islamic Jihad activists near the town of Jenin, Israeli and Palestinian sources confirmed.

Earlier on Sunday, Five Palestinians were detained by IOF in different parts of the occupied Palestinian territory.

In the northern West Bank town of Qalqilia, IOF soldiers detained a Palestinian as he was trying to access an Israeli military checkpoint at the eastern entrance of the town through a Palestinian medical ambulance so as to reach hospital for surgery.

He was identified as, Baha Amin, 22.

In Nablus, another Palestinian was detained by IOF, witnesses said. Moaiyad al-Hait was detained west of the city, witnesses added.

In the southern West Bank city of Hebron, Nour al-Din and Basel al-Qawasmi were detained after IOF stormed their houses, east of the city.

In Gaza Strip, another Palestinian was detained by Israeli occupation soldiers near al Matahen junction, Palestinian security sources said.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinian citizens gathered in Tulkarem and held a demonstration calling for the immediate of release of Palestinian detainees in the Israeli prisons.

The demonstrators gathered in front of the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Tulkarem and demanded that International human rights organizations intervene to release the “prisoners of freedom” in Israeli jails.

The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees’ Affairs revealed Monday that there are 286 Palestinian children and 76 women among 8000 detainees in IOF prisons.

After meeting Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid in occupied east Jerusalem Monday, the Palestinian minister of detainees’ affairs, Hisham Abdal Raziq, warned, “If the decision (on prisoners) won't be changed it will affect the peace process for the worse.”

Meanwhile, Palestinian Minister of Cabinet Affairs Yasser Abed Rabbo called for saving the lives of thousands of Palestinian detainees following Israel’s decision to free only 350 detainees from its jails.

“The number of detainees who will be released represent a mere 5% of incarcerated Palestinians, whose number exceeds 6,000,” the minister said in an open letter to the international and Arab human rights groups and the diplomatic corps to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

The minister criticized the Israeli classification of Palestinian detainees according to their political affiliations to determine their release, and called for the release of all detainees from Israeli jails.

“The issue of prisoners and detainees Is an essential issue that should be solved on the basis of freeing all detainees from Israeli jails,” Abed Rabbo stressed.

© Scoop Media