August M
Israeli forces have carried out widespread overnight raids, arrests and demolitions across the occupied West Bank, as operations in the territory continue alongside the war in Gaza. The latest actions have left at least one Palestinian wounded and scores detained, according to Palestinian and international monitors.
The developments come amid a sharp rise in casualties and sustained military activity across the occupied territory.
Rrising casualty toll
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said last week that throughout 2025, Israeli forces and settlers killed 240 Palestinians in the West Bank.
Of those deaths, Israeli forces were responsible for 225, while settlers killed at least nine. OCHA said it could not confirm whether settlers or soldiers caused the remaining six deaths. Fifty-five of those killed—nearly a quarter of the total—were children, Al Jazeera reported
During the same period, Palestinians killed 17 Israelis in the West Bank, including one child and six members of Israeli forces, according to OCHA.
Mass arrest campaign
Against that backdrop, Israeli forces detained and interrogated at least 80 Palestinians during overnight and dawn raids, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society reported.
Those detained included at least one woman, two children and several former prisoners. The group said the arrests represented “an unprecedented escalation since the beginning of the year” and described them as part of a campaign of collective punishment.
It added that field interrogations have “become the occupation’s most prominent policy”.
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, arrests were reported across Hebron and surrounding areas, including two detentions during a raid on the Arroub refugee camp north of the city.
Raids and shooting
In the town of Dura, south of Hebron, Israeli forces surrounded a family home on Thursday and shot and wounded a Palestinian man, identified as the brother of Mahmoud al-Fasfous, Al Jazeera reported.
The al-Fasfous family has long been targeted by Israeli forces, with repeated raids and assaults on their home over the years.
Home demolition
Elsewhere in Hebron’s Khallat Nafisa area, Israeli troops sealed off the neighbourhood before demolishing the home of Imran al-Atrash using a bulldozer, Wafa reported.
Israeli forces killed al-Atrash and another Palestinian, Walid Muhammad Khalil Sabarna, in mid-November after accusing them of carrying out a car-ramming and stabbing attack that killed one Israeli settler and wounded three others.
The Israeli military later posted images of the demolition on Telegram, describing al-Atrash as a “terrorist”.
Wider operations
In the al-Majaz community of Masafer Yatta, Israeli soldiers searched homes and converted one into a military outpost, forcing residents to spend the night outside in cold conditions.
Meanwhile, in the Ramallah and el-Bireh governorate, troops stormed the town of Kobar and deployed across several neighbourhoods. Residents told Al Jazeera that soldiers shouted: “Who wants to become a martyr? Where are the cowards?”
All Israeli settlements in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, home to about 700,000 Israelis, are illegal under international law, a position repeatedly reaffirmed by the United Nations.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Wafa, Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, OCHA
