West Bank arrests: IDF apprehends over 6,000 during 14 months of war

As of December 2024, Israel holds 10,154 different categories of security prisoners - by far the largest number since the First Intifada.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB DECEMBER 16, 2024 14:44

IDF soldiers operating in the West Bank, June 25, 2024 (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

The IDF on Monday announced that the volume of suspected West Bank terrorists it has arrested crossed the 6,000-person mark since the start of the current war 14 months ago.

While at the start of the war, around 60% or more of those arrested were members of Hamas, already in early 2024, the ratio was reversed, and the majority of those arrested were not necessarily affiliated with Hamas.

At this point, the IDF said that 2,350, or around 39%, a low for the war, are members of Hamas.

Recent arrests have focused on unaffiliated local gangs

Those arrested who are not members of Hamas can be members of Islamic Jihad or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), but more recently, have been local gangs and militias who are not affiliated with wider terror groups.

Some of the arrests made overnight were unusual, such as the arrests of more than ten suspects and the seizure of over NIS one million in terror funds from Jericho, villages in the Etzion bloc, and other areas.

Arik “Harris” Barbing (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)

There were also arrests and seizures of terror funds in northern Samaria near Salem, including confiscating some weapons. 

Eight suspects were arrested in northern Samaria and three in the other areas.

According to the human rights NGO Hamoked and based on data from the Israel Prisons Service, as of December 2024, Israel holds 10,154 different categories of security prisoners - by far the largest number since the First Intifada of 1987-1991.

Of these, 2,003 are sentenced prisoners, 2,951 detainees are remanded in custody pending their trials, and 3,428 administrative detainees are being held outside standard criminal proceedings. Most of these Palestinians come from the West Bank.

Israel also holds 1772 people as "unlawful combatants, though this number has continually dropped, with the number having reached thousands at the start of the war.

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Periodically and quietly, Israel has sent many of the unlawful combatants back to Gaza if and when it does not feel it has sufficient evidence to indict them.

Israel has also killed over 750 Palestinians in the West Bank. However, IDF sources have told The Jerusalem Post that only around 3%, or around 25 Palestinian civilians, have been mistakenly killed during gunfights between the IDF and Palestinian terrorists in urban settings.

Israel has been criticized for the number of arrests and especially the number of administrative detainees. However, so much criticism has focused on alleged war crimes in Gaza that there has been less attention this year on alleged violations by Israel against Palestinians in the West Bank.

On the other end of the spectrum, Israelis living in the West Bank have criticized the IDF for being too lenient and slow to attack and arrest suspected Palestinian terrorists, which they say has led to an unprecedented number of terror attacks over the course of the war.