Israel detains Palestinian journalist, dozens more in occupied West Bank

Israeli forces launched a large-scale arrest and raid campaign early on Monday across cities, towns and refugee camps in the occupied West Bank, detaining dozens of Palestinians, including a journalist and a 15-year-old boy, Palestinian media sources reported on Monday.

The forces arrested journalist Enas Ikhlawi after raiding her home in the town of Idhna, west of Hebron, the Palestinian Information Center reported.

Israeli forces also arrested a 15-year-old boy from the Nur Shams refugee camp during raids in the Tulkarm area, while at least four residents were detained in Qalqilya, including a relative of former prisoner Abdullah Dhiab, the report said, citing local sources.

Over 25 Palestinians were abducted by the Israeli occupation army in a crackdown this morning targeting the Aida refugee camp, near Bethlehem. pic.twitter.com/wGbdgx7CbR

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 5, 2026

In Bethlehem, Israeli forces arrested more than 25 Palestinians in the Aida refugee camp north of the city, local sources said. Residents said the raids involved extensive searches of homes and intimidation.

Elsewhere, Israeli forces detained at least six Palestinians in total in Silwad, northeast of Ramallah, Iktaba, east of Tulkarm, Tubas and Nablus in the West Bank.

According to the Palestine Center for Prisoner Studies report on Wednesday, Israel arrested at least 7,500 Palestinians in the West Bank in 2025. Of those, 600 were children, and more than 200 were women and girls. 

Nearly half of all Palestinian detainees are held without charge or trial, under indefinitely renewable administrative detention orders.

Human rights groups say Israeli authorities deliberately target prisoners with physical and psychological abuse, including torture, starvation, denial of medical treatment, and solitary confinement.

A report by the Israel’s Public Defender’s Office has also revealed that Palestinian prisoners were objected to systematic violence by prison staff, describing the resulting hunger as “severe, manifested in extreme weight loss and associated physical symptoms, including extreme weakness and fainting”.

A total of 32 detainees, including a child, died in Israeli custody in 2025, bringing the number of prisoners killed since October 2023 to more than 100, a joint report by the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoners Club and Addameer said. Israeli authorities are withholding the bodies of 94 prisoners, according to the groups.