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The number of Palestinians arrested by Israeli military forces in the occupied West Bank has surged to 8,165 since October 7, when Israel launched its relentless offensive against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society and the Commission of Detainees and ex-Detainees in a joint statement on Tuesday said that over the past 24 hours, Israeli forces had arrested 20 Palestinians across the West bank.

The statement said that most of the arrests took place in Tulkarm, with additional arrests scattered across other cities, towns and refugee camps in the West Bank such as Beit Lahm, al-Khalil, Ramallah, Nablus, Tubas, and al-Quds.

The arrests were made amidst reports of widespread abuse, severe beatings, threats against detainees and their families, and extensive vandalism in citizens' homes and prisoners' residences in the Israeli prisons.

In the aftermath of the al-Aqsa Storm, over 8,165 arrests were made in the West Bank, with individuals including children being detained from their homes, at military checkpoints, coerced into surrendering, and even taken hostage, the statement revealed.

These figures do not include the thousands of adults and children the Israeli army has detained, tortured and interrogated in makeshift prisons across Gaza, outside any legal or civilian oversight.

Conditions for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have allegedly worsened considerably, with detainees experiencing extreme overcrowding and limited access to essential rights, including food, water, electricity, medical care, family visits, and legal assistance.

Palestinian prisoner groups have repeatedly reported that Palestinians in Israeli prisons are being denied medical care, which pushes those jailed to the brink of death.

At least 10 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons since Israel’s war on Gaza began, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA. But an investigation by Israeli daily Haaretz revealed that the number was actually at least 27. Rights groups put the number even higher.

Israel has intensified its attacks against Palestinians throughout the West Bank since October 7, when it launched a devastating war on the besieged Gaza Strip.

Since then, the Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 459 Palestinians from the West Bank, with over 4,750 others sustaining injuries.

In the span of the past six months, at least 33,482 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza. The relentless violence has also resulted in the mass displacement of the 2.3 million people inhabitants of the Gaza Strip.

Concerns have been raised regarding the fate of those who have gone missing, as they may be trapped beneath the rubble or confined within makeshift Israeli prisons.

The significant number of Palestinian detainees remaining in Israeli prisons is a crucial role in truce negotiations between Palestinian resistance group Hamas and Israel.

About 130 of the 250 Israeli captives taken during Operation Al-Aqsa Storm are still in Gaza after a provisional truce deal in December saw the exchange of a number of prisoners between the two sides.

The genocidal war on Gaza launched by Israel on October 7 last year, with the support of the US and its other Western allies, completes 200 days on Tuesday, leaving behind a trail of death, destruction, displacement and starvation.

These 200 days – between October 7, 2023, and April 23, 2024 – have been marked by unprecedented crimes against the people of Gaza, especially children and women, the bombardment of hospitals and schools, abuse and torture of women and abduction of young boys.

Human rights groups and international bodies have described the harrowing events unfolding in the besieged Palestinian territory as a textbook case of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Israeli regime’s key international allies – Washington, London, Paris and Berlin – have also been at the receiving end of massive public backlash for their continued military support for the regime.

The death toll in the apartheid regime’s genocidal campaign has already topped 34,150 since October 7, more than 75 percent of them being women and children, according to the Gaza government office.

The 2.3 million people in the besieged territory continue to deal with a catastrophic humanitarian crisis amid relentless bombings and crippling siege imposed by the Israeli regime with the backing of the US.

Following are the statistics related to 200 days of war waged by the Israeli occupation on Gaza. 

200 – the number of days of the latest Israeli genocidal war on Gaza

41,183 – the total number of those killed and missing in Gaza since Oct. 7

34,183 – the total number of fatalities in Gaza since Oct. 7 (confirmed dead)

7,000 – the number of people still under the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza (presumed dead)

77,183 – the number of wounded persons in Gaza since Oct. 7

3,025 – the number of massacres committed by the regime since Oct. 7

14,778 – the number of children killed since Oct. 7

30 – the number of children who died due to starvation and famine

9,752 – the number of women killed since Oct. 7

485 – the number of doctors and paramedics killed since Oct. 7

67 – the number of civil defense personnel killed since Oct. 7

140 – the number of Palestinian journalists killed since Oct. 7

72 – the percentage of children and women killed since Oct. 7

17,000 – the number of children who have lost one or both parents since Oct. 7

11,000 – the number of injured people who need to travel for treatment

10,000 – the number of cancer patients who face the risk of death

1,090,000 – the number of people with infectious diseases due to displacement

8,000 – the number of cases of viral hepatitis due to displacement

60,000 – the number of pregnant women at risk due to lack of healthcare

350,000 – the number of chronically ill patients suffering due to lack of medicine

5,000 – the number of people arbitrarily detained in Gaza since Oct. 7

310 – the number of health practitioners who have been arrested

20 – the number of known journalists arbitrarily detained since Oct. 7

2 million – the number of displaced people in the Gaza Strip

181 – the number of government buildings destroyed since Oct. 7

103 – the number of schools and universities completely destroyed since Oct. 7

317 – the number of schools and universities partially destroyed by the occupation

239 – the number of mosques completely destroyed since Oct. 7

317 – the number of mosques partially destroyed since Oct. 7

3 – the number of churches targeted and destroyed since Oct. 7

86,000 – the number of housing units completely destroyed since Oct. 7

294,000 – the number of housing units partially destroyed since Oct. 7

75,000 – tons of explosives dropped by the occupation on Gaza since Oct. 7

32 – the number of hospitals taken out of service by the occupation since Oct. 7

53 – the number of health centers that have become non-functional since Oct. 7

160 – the number of health institutions partially or fully destroyed since Oct. 7

126 – the number of ambulances destroyed by the occupation army since Oct. 7

206 – the number of archaeological and heritage sites destroyed since Oct. 7

$30 – billions in preliminary direct losses as a result of the genocidal war on Gaza

The Iranian Army Chief Commander Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi says the country will not hesitate to give a “stormy and unified” response to any act of aggression against it.

In a Monday message marking the National Army Day, Mousavi said great defensive measures of the country’s Army and Armed Forces have resulted in strong deterrent power.

Iran has conveyed its message of power to the world in a way that the world has realized that the Iranian Armed Forces will give a “stormy and unified” response to any aggression against the country’s national interests, borders and security, he added.

The top commander noted that Iran’s firm response to an act of aggression by the usurping Israeli enemy against its diplomatic premises in the Syrian capital of Damascus brought joy to oppressed nations, especially the resilient people of Palestine and Gaza.

Mousavi emphasized that the retaliatory strikes, dubbed Operation True Promise, revealed only a part of the capacity and strong will of the Iranian Armed Forces and were carried out in cooperation among the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Division, the Army, and the Defense Ministry.

He said the Army has played a key role in strengthening the country’s defense power, independence and lasting security by implementing various measures.

It has constructed strategic drone and underground tactical bases and made hundreds of modern defense achievements in the land, air, sea and space sectors in addition to advancing in the fields of science and technology, he explained.

Now the enemies lack the courage to carry out any act of aggression against the Islamic establishment and the noble Iranian nation, the top commander said.

He added that Iran has staged several joint military drills to enhance national security and dignity.

The Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s embassy compound in Damascus killed two generals of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, as well as five of their accompanying officers.

In response, on Saturday night, the IRGC targeted the Israeli-occupied territories with a barrage of drones and missiles. The extent of the damage on Israeli military bases across the occupied territories is yet to be specified.

Following the reprisal, Iran warned Israel against taking any retaliatory actions and also urged the US to try not to involve itself in the conflict and signaled that it viewed the matter as “concluded.”