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Israeli forces opened fire early Monday on a Palestinian vehicle carrying several young men during a raid in Nablus in the occupied West Bank, while Palestinian prisoners’ rights groups separately accused Israel of concealing the fate of thousands of Gaza detainees for a third year.
Palestine’s official WAFA news agency said Israeli special forces fired on the vehicle near Nablus’ municipal stadium and ordered one of those inside to surrender.
The agency reported possible casualties but provided no further details.
Palestine TV said additional Israeli military vehicles entered Nablus through the Deir Sharaf checkpoint and deployed around the stadium.
The official Voice of Palestine radio also reported the presence of Israeli special forces in the area.
Elsewhere in the northern occupied West Bank, Israeli forces raided Jenin and deployed in the city center, according to WAFA.
The army also entered the towns of Ajjah, al-Fandaqumiya and Jaba, south of Jenin.
The occupied West Bank has seen an escalation in Israeli military raids and attacks by Israeli occupiers against Palestinians since the Gaza war began in October 2023.
Separately, Palestinian prisoners’ rights groups said Sunday that Israel has continued for a third year to conceal the fate and whereabouts of thousands of Palestinians detained from the Gaza Strip.
The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoner Society and Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association issued a joint statement marking the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances on Aug. 30.
The groups said Israeli authorities withhold detainees’ names, places of detention and health information while preventing contact with families, lawyers and rights organizations.
They described the practice as a systematic form of enforced disappearance that creates conditions for torture, mistreatment and medical abuse.
The groups also criticized restrictions on access to Palestinian detainees by lawyers, the International Committee of the Red Cross and human rights organizations.
The organizations said no precise overall number is available for Palestinians detained from Gaza because of difficulties documenting cases and determining the fate of detainees and missing people.
They said they had tracked thousands of Gaza detainees over the past three years, while Israeli authorities had often responded to inquiries by saying information was unavailable.
The groups accused Israel of subjecting Gaza detainees to torture, mistreatment and denial of medical care, saying dozens had died in prisons and detention camps.
At least 53 identified detainees from Gaza have died in Israeli custody since October 2023, out of 99 Palestinian detainees known to have died during the same period, according to the statement.
The groups also said Israel was withholding the bodies of Palestinians from Gaza, including detainees who died in prisons and detention facilities.
The Palestinian groups called on the U.N. and international community to act to determine the fate of detainees, launch independent investigations into allegations of enforced disappearance, torture and deaths in custody, and press Israel to return withheld bodies.
Since late 2022, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has pushed for harsher conditions for Palestinian prisoners, including restrictions on food and medical care, while Palestinian and Israeli rights groups have documented allegations of torture and prolonged isolation.
Around 9,500 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including 94 women and more than 350 children, according to Palestinian prisoners’ rights groups.
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