Israeli forces try to arrest five-year-old Palestinian boy during village raid

A five-year-old Palestinian boy was arrested by occupying Israeli forces in the village of Burin after they violently stormed the area on Tuesday evening.

Backed by occupying forces, dozens of Israeli settlers stormed Burin, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

At least 12 Palestinians were suffocated by tear gas, two of which were pregnant women, the director of ambulance and emergency at the Palestinian Red Crescent in Nablus, Ahmed Jibril, told The New Arab's Arabic-language service, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

All of the injured were treated on-site by field crews, he added.

🚨 A short while ago Israeli forces raided a home in Nablus, terrorized a pregnant woman looking for the “boy”
Probably under the pretext of the boy throwing stones.

🇮🇱 Do these soldiers feel these massive guns are plastic or are they just that delusional? pic.twitter.com/4d4mdcedpo

— Mariam Barghouti مريم البرغوثي (@MariamBarghouti) July 19, 2022

Local activist Basem Eid told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the settlers came from the illegal Yitzhar settlement nearby, vandalising around five houses, breaking the windows of cars parked in their courtyards, and burning down trees in an olive grove.

During the raid, Israeli soldiers stormed into a house that contained multiple women, including a pregnant woman and a five-year-old boy, seeking to arrest the child in front of what seemed to be his mother.

The soldiers entered the house shouting for "the boy", while the woman filming the incident begged them to leave, saying there was a pregnant woman who could go into stress-induced labour.

Young men from the village responded to the attack and forced the settlers to retreat towards their settlement, which is built on the top of a mountain overlooking Burin and the neighbouring villages and towns.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, in defiance of international law, and commits regular abuses against Palestinian civilians.

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

Israeli forces regularly raid Palestinian towns in the West Bank at night, often to arrest Palestinians. ِ