Israel Detains Hebron Mayor in Arrest Campaign, Settlers Storm Al-Aqsa 

September 2, 2025 News
Hebron mayor Tayseer Abu Sneineh was detained after large army forces stormed his house and damaged his possessions. (Photo: via social media)

Hebron mayor Tayseer Abu Sneineh was detained after large army forces stormed his house and damaged his possessions.

The Israeli army launched large-scale arrest campaigns on Tuesday, detaining Palestinian residents of the West Bank cities, including the mayor of Hebron (al-Khalil).

At the same time, illegal Israeli settlers, under the protection of police forces, stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem. They entered in groups through the Mughrabi Gate, where dozens of settlers performed Talmudic rituals in the mosque’s courtyards, Al Mayadeen reported.

Witnesses told the Anadolu news agency that 13 people were detained by the Israeli army in the Nablus governorate in the northern occupied West Bank.

One Palestinian was hospitalized after being assaulted and beaten by the army forces in the Kafr Qalil village of Nablus, they added.

Two more people were detained in the northern city of Qalqilya and another in Ramallah, central West Bank, according to local sources.

‘Brutal Attack’

Hebron municipality said in a statement that Mayor Tayseer Abu Sneineh was detained at dawn, after large army forces stormed his house and damaged his possessions, Anadolu reported.

“This brutal attack doesn’t only target the mayor but also targets the will of the people of Hebron and its elected institutions and constitutes a blatant attack on the democratic process and the right of our people to manage their affairs and serve their city with freedom and dignity,” the municipality said in a statement.

The municipal council held the Israeli authorities fully responsible for Abu Sneineh’s arrest and called on international human rights organizations “to carry their legal and moral responsibilities to pile pressure (on Israel) for the immediate release of the mayor and to put an end to the escalating (Israeli) violations against the city’s leaders and citizens.”

Hamas Condemns Arrest

The Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas condemned the arrest of Abu Sneineh as “a continuation of the occupation’s aggressive, barbaric approach and its targeting of all components of our people.”

“This aggression and brutal arrest come in the context of the dangerous targeting that the city of Al-Khalil is subjected to by the zionist terror government and its plans to annex the occupied West Bank lands,” the movement said in a statement.

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It added that all attempts by Israel “to replicate previous experiences will fail, just as the Village Leagues failed.”

Hamas called on all international, human rights, and humanitarian organizations “to assume their legal and moral responsibilities and pressure the occupation to put an end to these escalating violations against the Palestinian people.”

Over 10,000 Palestinian Prisoners

Israel is currently holding around 10,800 Palestinians in its prisons, including about 450 children, 50 women, and 3,629 administrative detainees, according to official Palestinian figures. These numbers exclude thousands of cases of enforced disappearance of detainees from Gaza.

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At least 1,016 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers since October 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal, demanding the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

(Anadolu, Al Mayadeen, PC)

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