Israeli Forces Kidnap 21 Palestinians, Attack Youths in West Bank

The Israeli military has kidnapped as many as 21 Palestinians during swoops across the West Bank and attacked the Palestinian youths protesting settler raids in the occupied territory.

According to a report by the Palestinian Information Center the kidnappings came in early Thursday involving large numbers of Israeli military vehicles.

During an instance, 10 military vehicles swarmed two houses in a town located in the north of the city of Ramallah, arresting two young men and rummaging their houses as a military drone was flying overhead.

In another assault, the regime forces raided two more homes in Qibya Village, northwest of Ramallah, abducting two other Palestinians and similarly searching the houses.

Three more were spirited away during an attack targeting the city of Tulkarm in northwestern West Bank, while 14 were nabbed elsewhere, mostly in al-Khalil (Hebron) area.

The circumstances surrounding the kidnappings are yet unknown, but the occupation forces carry out such swoops on a nearly daily basis, taking away Palestinians, whom the regime usually accuses of acting against its so-called interests.

Also on Thursday, a large number of Israeli forces raided the city of Nablus in north-central West Bank to pave the way for a pending raid by illegal Israeli settlers to Joseph’s Tom there.

The Israeli military attacked the Palestinian youths, who begun protesting the military operation — that saw the forces deploying on rooftops and fanning in the streets that surround the burial ground — and the settler raid.

The Israeli troops targeted the protesters with rubber bullets and tear gas canisters, and also used stun grenades against them before the settlers arrived to storm the tomb.

Israel occupied the West Bank during a Western-backed war in 1967. It has so far built more than 230 illegal settlements on the territory that have come to house some 600,000 settlers.

The settlers regularly storm sensitive spots across the West Bank under protection from the military that does not hesitate to manhandle, assault or arrest the Palestinians, who turn up to protest the frequent occurrences.

Source: Press TV