At least 40 Palestinians were detained throughout the evening of 16 August and the following morning, as Israeli forces carried out a large arrest campaign across the occupied West Bank.

According to the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS), the raids mainly targeted the southern West Bank town of Tuqu and the northern town of Yabad. The PPS added that several of the detainees were later released from custody.

Throughout the raids, Israeli troops stormed the town of Tuqu and detained 22 Palestinians after forcefully breaking into and searching their homes. Eleven other Palestinians were simultaneously arrested as occupation forces swept through the town of Yabad.

Although the arrest campaign focused on the towns of Tuqu and Yabad, other areas across the West Bank were also targeted. Two Palestinians were detained after an Israeli military convoy stormed two neighborhoods in the city of Nablus.

East of Nablus, an Israeli army unit made its way to the Balata refugee camp to continue making arrests, triggering an exchange of gunfire between the soldiers and armed Palestinians. Two Palestinians were injured in the gunfire as they attempted to prevent the soldiers from entering the camp.

As the arrest campaign continued, the Israeli military arrested another two Palestinians in Ramallah, and one more in the city of Tulkarm.

Israeli forces are known to carry out violent raids across the occupied West Bank, regularly going on massive arrest sprees which often result in Palestinian deaths and injuries.

Just last week, Israeli troops launched a brutal raid in the city of Nablus, killing three Palestinians and injuring at least 40 others. Among the dead was the leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Ibrahim al-Nabulsi.

Two days before the raid that killed Al-Nabulsi, hundreds of extremist settlers raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of heavily armed Israeli police troops, in what has become a regular occurrence at the Muslim holy site.

Tensions have escalated significantly since Israel carried out an unprovoked, three-day bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip, which left dozens of civilians dead, including 17 children.

In his first public statement after the three-day barrage on the Gaza Strip, interim Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said that “the State of Israel will not apologize” for the civilian deaths.