Israeli forces raid West Bank college campus

The Israeli military seized 15 students from the Palestine Technical College in the West Bank town of Al-Arrub, north of Hebron, after opening fire on the campus on Thursday morning, witnesses told Ma’an.

The public relations officer of the college, Abed Al-Men’em Zahdah told Ma’an that “at least 15 students were arrested from the college and the agricultural school.”

He added that the Israeli soldiers assaulted several students and faculty, including 43-year-old Dean of Students Issa Al-A’mlah and 22-year-old employee Mohammad Az-Zaghareet. Israeli troops also searched the lecture halls, damaging furniture and the buildings.

Soldiers riding in four Israeli jeeps invaded the college campus firing live ammunition and stun grenades, witnesses said. Twenty students from the adjacent agricultural school, and two from the technical school, were seized and taken outside the university. Fifteen were ultimately arrested and the rest released.

The Israeli captain heading the operation told the college that “classes are cancelled today,” according to officials at the school.

The Israeli army claimed that a settler’s car had been attacked by stone-throwers on the main road near Al-Arrub Refugee Camp on Thursday, adding that the settler was injured in the attack.

The college is approximately 200 meters from the road.

***Updated at 19:11 local time

Read the Addameer press release and statement on this incident.