Israel arrests 'pro-Hamas' students in West Bank university raid

NABLUS, West Bank – Israel arrested students at a university in the occupied West Bank in an early morning raid on Jan 15 because of their alleged support for Hamas, sources on both sides said.

The students attend An-Najah National University in Nablus, which called for their immediate release and labelled the army raid a “blatant Israeli aggression”.

The university and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, a campaign group, said 25 students had been arrested in the raid.

The Israeli army said only that security forces had arrested “nine wanted persons associated with a Hamas student cell”.

A Palestinian security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the arrests came after the students held prayers for Hamas and praised the Islamist militant group on social media.

Violence has surged in the West Bank since Oct 7,

when Hamas launched a bloody attack on southern Israel

which sparked a full-scale conflict in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli army raids and attacks by settlers have killed at least 343 people in the West Bank since then, according to an AFP tally based on sources from both sides.

The Palestinian security source said it was clear “the occupation (Israel) is launching a campaign against everything related to supporting the resistance in Gaza”.

More than 520 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank in 2023, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Over the same period, Palestinian militants carried out attacks in Israel and the West Bank that killed at least 41 people, according to the Shin Bet security agency.

Israel has occupied the West Bank, home to about three million Palestinians, since the Six-Day War of 1967.

Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, the territory is now home to around 490,000 Israelis who live in settlements considered illegal under international law. AFP