Israel arrests 12 Palestinians in Ramallah, East Jerusalem raids

Occupying Israeli forces detained five Palestinians around the city of Ramallah and seven in East Jerusalem during raids on Thursday and Friday, according to Palestinian Authority's news agency Wafa.

Israeli forces re-arrested three former prisoners after breaking into their homes in Al-Bireh city. One of them was a student at Birzeit University, according to local sources.

They also carried out more raids in Beitunia town, west of Ramallah and re-arrested two more Palestinians.

On Thursday evening, Israeli forces arrested seven Palestinians after carrying out a raid in Ras Al-Amud neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem.

Israeli forces invaded the neighbourhood and took the seven detainees to an unknown location after breaking into their homes.

The Israeli army often raids Palestinian homes across the occupied West Bank on the pretext of searching for "wanted" Palestinians. This usually causes clashes with local residents.

These raids also take place in Area C, which is under Israel's complete control. Raids are done without a search warrant and whenever and wherever the military chooses to do so.

Israel has occupied the West Bank illegally since 1967, and commits various abuses against Palestinian civilians, human rights groups say.

More than 600,000 Israeli Jews live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, in constructions considered illegal under international law.

The Oslo agreement of 1995 divided the occupied West Bank into three: Area A, Area B and Area C.

Area A is under the administrative and security control of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Area B's administration is controlled by the PA, with Israel controlling security. Area C is under full administrative and security control of Israel.