Israeli army confirms marking of Palestinian detainees in Qabatiya raid

The Israeli army has confirmed that its personnel marked the foreheads of Palestinian detainees with numbers during a raid in Qabatiya, south of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank. Footage released on Monday showed a man with the number "44" written on his forehead, an act that has drawn sharp criticism from political figures and human rights advocates.

In a statement to the Times of Israel, the military acknowledged the incident, stating that commanders had made the seriousness of the act clear to the troops. The army further asserted that lessons had been learned from the event. This confirmation follows reports from Palestinian news agencies, including Wafa, which detailed the deployment of Israeli forces across several neighbourhoods of Qabatiya, where soldiers searched homes and arrested several young men.

One of the detainees, Ahmad al-Hathnawi, described the experience as a form of intimidation. Although he had been released from Israeli detention four times in the preceding 10 days, al-Hathnawi stated that this was the first time he had been subjected to such treatment. He reported that approximately 50 detainees, including blindfolded women, were held in the house where he was interrogated. Al-Hathnawi suggested the act was intended to signal to settlers that they could remain in the area without interference.

The incident occurs against a backdrop of escalating violence in the West Bank. The Palestinian prime minister’s office reported that Israeli forces and settlers carried out more than 467 attacks against Palestinians in the occupied territory in a single week. The office also noted that at least 75 Palestinian homes and structures were demolished during this period, describing the situation as a relentless escalation of violence and destruction.

Knesset lawmaker Ahmad Tibi condemned the practice, describing it as "shocking and repulsive." He argued that the act represented dehumanisation, comparing it to dark historical periods where individuals were reduced to numbers. This is not the first instance of such conduct; in April, the Israeli army acknowledged that soldiers had written numbers on the hands of Palestinian women in Jenin, a move the military previously characterised as "poor judgement."

International observers have also weighed in on the situation. Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, stated that settler violence and the ongoing siege in Qusra had reached a "climax." She accused Israel of using settlers to advance ethnic cleansing and called for the perpetrators to be investigated and prosecuted. Meanwhile, the mayor of Qusra warned that food supplies for families under siege would run out within two days, highlighting the humanitarian impact of the continued military and settler presence.