Israeli soldiers based in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron have intensified a campaign of arbitrary detentions, beatings and abuse of Palestinians, according to Guardian interviews with affected residents and new research by the rights group B’Tselem.
Three people described being seized on the street while going about their daily business on flimsy pretexts such as photos of Palestinian flags found on their phones or allegations of stone-throwing. They were handcuffed, blindfolded and taken to nearby military posts, where they were subjected to mental and physical abuse for hours. One 60-year-old man, Bader a-Tamimi, said he was hit in the torso and thrown against the wall after asking soldiers to stop destroying the wares in his souvenir shop.
