Israeli security forces detained more than fifty people this Tuesday, including the president of the Palestinian Parliament Saint Dueik. Palestinian media reports say West Bank operations have intensified in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks on October 7, with security actions expanding across multiple locations in the territory.
The crackdown targeted various sites in the West Bank, centering around Hebron where Dueik, a Hamas member who was elected president of the Palestinian Legislative Council after Hamas won the 2006 elections, was taken into custody. He had run on the Change and Reform slate, which was largely backed by Hamas, a result that prompted criticism and sustained engagement between Israel, the United States, and Palestinian Authority leaders, including Mahmoud Abbas, who remains associated with Fatah.
Earlier, Ahmed Kurey served as prime minister at Abbas’s request and stepped down gracefully, remaining in a caretaker role until February when a new government led by Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, was formed in March.
Several months after these developments, Israel conducted a wave of arrests in the West Bank and Gaza following the June 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The operations extended to Palestinian ministers and parliamentarians linked to Hamas and followed continued disputes over Hamas’s governance and the Palestinian Authority’s position, including sanctions issued by the Palestinian Liberation Organization in response to the situation.
The strain between Hamas and Fatah intensified, culminating in December 2006 when Haniyeh was briefly blocked at the Rafah crossing into Gaza, and later, gun violence targeted his vehicle after he managed to re-enter the area. The clash illustrated the deepening split between the two factions as the West Bank and Gaza developed under separate political trajectories.
In that climate, Abbas called for new elections, a move Hamas described as a coup against the winning government. Intra-Palestinian conflict escalated into a prolonged political standoff that ultimately left Hamas ruling Gaza while Fatah directed policy from the West Bank, with a long-standing Israeli blockade shaping daily life and security policy in the strip.
Saint Dueik has been detained on multiple occasions since 2006, including a three-year spell from 2006 to 2009 tied to his Hamas membership. He and others rejected the detention as a violation of international law, arguing it breached parliamentary immunity. Subsequent arrests occurred in 2012 and 2014, with the latest wave following the killing of three Israeli teenagers and ongoing security concerns in the region.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club noted that many Palestinian parliamentarians were among those detained, including figures such as Maher Badr and Yamal al Natsé. Israeli authorities had not issued formal comments about the current arrest campaign at that time, which followed reports that more than ninety people were detained the previous Monday, according to the Palestinian Information Center.
Among those detained on Monday was Palestinian artist Dalal Abu Amneh. He used social media after the October 7 Hamas attacks to express support for the Gaza Strip amid Israeli bombardments in the Palestinian territories. Arab media and the Palestinian News Agency reported that Abu Amneh, who is also a practicing lawyer and physician, faced interrogation but no indictment or decision about extending detention had been announced, according to WAFA coverage.
International organizations and the United Nations have repeatedly warned that the humanitarian situation has deteriorated sharply due to the prevailing siege in Gaza and the ongoing Israeli bombardments. Official figures from Palestinian sources indicate roughly 1,400 dead and around 200 people kidnapped, while Palestinian authorities reported that deaths from Israeli operations in Gaza had risen toward 2,750 with tens of thousands injured. The situation continues to evoke intense international concern over civilian harm and the prospects for a broader cycle of retaliation and political strife in the region, as described by WAFA and other outlets cited in the coverage.