Around 3:00 AM on June 2, approximately 10 Israeli soldiers raided the family home of 20-year-old American citizen Sama Safi in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, and took her into custody. Safi, a second-year student and painter at Birzeit University, was detained alongside Natalie Abu Dayeh—who is both a student at Birzeit University and a member of the Palestinian women’s national football team—Jolan Abu Awwad, and Laila Khalil, as part of a wider overnight sweep across the West Bank that resulted in at least 35 Palestinian arrests.

She is being held without formal charges. U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen has publicly condemned the arrest, stating that the Israeli government did not inform her family or the U.S. Embassy of her whereabouts or the reasons for her detention. Van Hollen, along with grassroots campaigns, is calling for her immediate release.

Israeli forces also carried out a pre-dawn raid in Birzeit, north of Ramallah, detaining four Birzeit University students, including Sama Safi, Jolan Abu Awwad, Natalie Abu Dayeh, and Laila Khalil, according to regional media reports.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club reported that at least 35 Palestinians were detained overnight across the occupied West Bank, with arrests concentrated in Tulkarem and Nablus, and additional raids in Ramallah, Hebron, and occupied Jerusalem. The detainees also included several formerly imprisoned Palestinians.

The Prisoners’ Club said arrests, field interrogations, and home raids have sharply escalated since the start of 2026, continuing a broader campaign since the war on Gaza began, and warned that women are increasingly being targeted through nighttime raids, coercive tactics involving family members, and harsh interrogations.

Separately, Rand Halawani, another member of the Palestinian women’s national football team, was detained by Israeli authorities after being summoned to Talpiot police station in West Jerusalem.