Israeli officials have taken a Palestinian Arabic-language radio station off air over what they described as its attempts to further escalate tensions in the occupied West Bank.
On Tuesday morning, Israeli military forces raided the office of Free Palestine Radio in the southern occupied West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron), located 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of al-Quds (Jerusalem), ransacked the building, and confiscated the radio’s broadcasting equipment, Arabic-language Palestine al-Yawm news agency reported.
The Israeli army had earlier ordered Free Palestine Radio to be shuttered for at least six months after accusing it of spreading hatred against the Tel Aviv regime.
West Bank tensions
The developments come amid heightened confrontations between Israelis and Palestinians over the past few weeks.
On Monday evening, Israeli soldiers shot and critically injured a young Palestinian man in Netanya, situated 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) north of Tel Aviv.
Israeli media alleged that the 22-year-old Palestinian, identified as Ziad Raza and a resident of Tulkarm city in the West Bank, had injured two Israelis in a stabbing attack.
Separately, tens of Palestinians sustained injuries on Tuesday morning, when clashes erupted between illegal Israeli settlers and a group of Palestinian protesters on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Nablus.
Furthermore, Israeli forces arrested more than a dozen Palestinians during a series of raids on a number of houses in northern West Bank.
Israeli military vehicles stormed the city of Jenin on Tuesday morning. Israeli forces broke into dozens of homes and rummaged through them, causing excessive property damage before detaining 13 Palestinians.
At least 74 Palestinians, including 14 children, have reportedly lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces since the beginning of October. Some 8,262 others have also sustained injuries.
At least 11 Israelis have been killed and 145 others injured during the same period.
The fresh wave of tensions in the occupied Palestinian territories was triggered by the Israeli regime’s imposition in August of restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina.