Arrests and raids during coronavirus pandemic
B’Tselem 16/04/20 cc
The entire world has ground to a halt, but the Israeli military is carrying on its violent routine of occupation throughout the West Bank. From 1 March 2020 to 3 April 2020, Israeli security forces raided 100 homes in the West Bank and arrested 217 Palestinians, 16 of them minors. Forty percent of the individuals detained, and 60% of the minors, were arrested between 12 March and 3 April 2020 – after Israel and the Palestinian Authority had tightened restrictions on movement in the West Bank. B’Tselem field researchers documented night raids on 12 homes, eight of which belong to members of an extended family. In every case, soldiers forced their way in, waking the entire family. In some instances, the soldiers trapped all the members of the family in a single room while they turned the rest of the house upside down. Some of the raids lasted about three hours. Armed soldiers invading your home, an inherently violent affair – and in the middle of the night, to boot – is always terrifying. The “usual” terror is now compounded by the specific fear of contracting coronavirus from strangers who break into your home and stay there for some time
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