Israel marks number on forehead of detained Palestinian

The Israeli military has confirmed that soldiers marked numbers on the foreheads of Palestinians detained during a raid into the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, which took place earlier this week.

The incident occurred on Monday and was reported by Palestinian news agencies. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israeli forces deployed in several neighborhoods of Qabatiya, with local sources saying soldiers searched several homes and detained a number of young men.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it had arrested two people in the raid on suspicion of “planning and inciting terrorist plots.”

However, footage released on Monday from the raid showed a Palestinian man with the number “44” written on his forehead, prompting outrage.

Details of the incident

One of the detainees, Ahmad al-Hathnawi, who was marked with the number, told Palestinian media that this was the first time the military had written a number on his forehead. Al-Hathnawi explained that he had been released from Israeli custody 10 days prior, for the fourth time, but had never experienced anything like this.

Al-Hathnawi described the interrogation process: “It was just interrogation and terrorism, threatening families and released prisoners.” He added that the Israeli military was trying to send a message that if settlers come to the area, there will be no problem, and settlers will stay there for a long time.

Al-Hathnawi said there were about “50 detainees, including blindfolded women, in the house” where he was interrogated.

Marking numbers on detained Palestinians is not new. Previously, in April, Israeli military wrote numbers on the hands of Palestinian women in Jenin. At that time, the Israeli military admitted it was an “error in judgment.”

Israeli military response

In a statement on Tuesday, the Israeli military confirmed that soldiers had marked detainees in the West Bank. “Commanders made clear to soldiers the severity of this act, and lessons were learned,” the military said.

Knesset member Ahmad Tibi condemned the marking and called it “shocking and disgusting” in a post on X. He wrote: “This is what dehumanization looks like: erasing the person and turning them into a number. An image reminiscent of dark periods and should shock everyone.”

Situation in the West Bank

Israeli forces have intensified raids and arrests in the occupied West Bank. On Monday, illegal settlers set up tents on Palestinian land to create a new settlement near Ramallah, while another group of settlers continued to besiege the village of Qusra, now in its 11th day.

The mayor of Qusra told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that he feared the siege of families in the town could represent a “new approach” aimed at forcing Palestinians to leave their homes. He said families' food supplies would run out within two days and they urgently needed supplies and medicine.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian prime minister's office said on Wednesday that Israeli forces and settlers had carried out “more than 467 attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in just one week.” “At least 75 Palestinian homes and structures have been destroyed. An unrelenting escalation of violence, dispossession, and destruction,” the office wrote on X.

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, told Al Jazeera on Sunday that settler violence and the ongoing siege in Qusra have reached a “peak.” Albanese said: “Israel has delegated the enforcement of coercion to the settlers and is using them to advance ethnic cleansing. This is a crime... This is absolute terror; these settlers should be investigated and prosecuted.”