Israeli forces raided the central West Bank city of Ramallah early this morning in an apparent search-and-arrest campaign, according to local sources.
Israeli troops fired teargas canisters and stun grenades to disperse a group of young Palestinians. One person was detained after raiding his home.
Soldiers also raided two Ramallah-area villages and detained Omar Barghouti, 67, who has several health problems, along with his son, Mohammad, 19, in the village of Kubar, north of Ramallah.
Heavily armed #Israeli soldiers accompanied by attack dogs raid a house in the city of Ramallah, in the central West Bank, and detain one of its residents pic.twitter.com/nr3AwccZMl
— Heba Khaled (@Heba_Khaled21) March 31, 2020
Israeli soldiers also arrested Palestinian lawyer Mahmoud Murrar in the village of Budrus, west of Ramallah, and seized his car and they raided several homes of people related to Murrar.
The Ramallah municipality moved quickly to sterilize the areas of the city raided by Israeli soldiers, according to Ramallah Mayor Moussa Hadid.
Watch | Protesters shower #IOF vehicles with stones during a raid of the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank early today morning. pic.twitter.com/mWq4BqOgje
— Heba Khaled (@Heba_Khaled21) March 31, 2020
In a precautionary move, city employees sterilized streets, public places, and buildings raided by Israeli soldiers.
The Geneva-based Euro-Med Monitor urged the international community in an earlier statement to protect Palestinians and force Israeli forces to stop incursions of cities and towns that threaten preventive measures taken by the Palestinian Authority to control the outbreak of coronavirus.
Israeli forces' incursions and soldiers' behavior jeopardize measures to prevent outbreak of #COVID19
Press release: https://t.co/JK7AurvzcG pic.twitter.com/dzdlp7ZLWB
— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) March 30, 2020
It also called for investigating the suspicious behavior of a number of soldiers and Jewish settlers, which appeared to be an attempt to spread the infection and hold those responsible to account.
Two new cases of coronavirus were confirmed overnight in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, bringing total to 117, said the Palestinian government’s spokesman Ibrahim Milhem.
(Palestine Chronicle, WAFA, Social Media)
