Israel Detains Five Female Health Activists in West Bank Raids
Palestinian groups say the arrests mark an escalation against health and civil-society actors that risks disrupting medical services.
Overview
- Families and Palestinian rights groups say Israeli forces carried out early-morning home raids that led to the detention of five women linked to the Health Work Committees in Ramallah, Nablus and Hebron.
- Relatives described forceful tactics during the raids, including handcuffing, blindfolding, confiscation of phones and removal to military vehicles or detention centres.
- One detainee reported to family that she was held at Salem Detention Centre and expected interrogation by Israeli intelligence, and activists say some arrests follow prior searches and seizures of office laptops and documents.
- Advocacy groups say the five arrests raise the number of Palestinian women in Israeli detention to 99 and fit a wider post-2023 pattern of intensified West Bank arrest campaigns that they say exceed 24,000 detentions.
- Palestinian NGOs are calling for international accountability and warn that targeting health staff and aid workers will further strain already damaged medical services and limit humanitarian access.