04 February 2019•Update: 04 February 2019
By Mustafa Habbush
GAZA CITY, Palestine
The Israeli army on Monday morning arrested a Palestinian for allegedly attempting to sneak through the security fence separating the southern Gaza Strip from Israel.
"An army force arrested a Palestinian who was attempting to infiltrate through the border fence from southern Gaza," the Israeli army said in a statement.
According to the statement, the army interrogated the Palestinian who, it claimed, had been found in possession of a knife.
It did not provide the name of the alleged infiltrator.
Israeli forces frequently arrest Palestinians who they claim had attempted to “infiltrate” Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces prohibit Palestinians in the Gaza Strip from coming within 300 meters of the Gaza-Israel buffer zone, frequently arresting -- or opening fire on -- anyone who does.
In a related development, Israeli army forces rounded up 16 Palestinians in overnight raids carried out across the West Bank, according to a Monday army statement.
The army said the men were arrested for "suspected involvement in popular terrorist activities". It did not elaborate, however, on the nature of these activities.
The Israeli army frequently carries out wide-ranging arrest campaigns across the occupied West Bank on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians.
According to estimates, roughly 6,400 Palestinians -- including dozens of women and scores of minors -- continue to languish in Israeli detention facilities.
