Two houses were raided by Israeli soldiers in the middle of the night tonight at the West Bank village of Awarta. The soldiers entered the houses violently, knocking down the doors and using concussion grenades. The two families were forced into one small room in the house belonging to Salim Awwad’s family, while soldiers searched the houses in and out. Twenty people, among them children and the elderly – the oldest 80 years of age and the youngest a mere six months old baby – were denied access to water, food, toilet and other necessities for nearly 12 hours.

During the night two of the women experienced medical problems, one of them due to advanced pregnancy. Despite having repeatedly asked for medical assistance, the women were not allowed to see a doctor. Only hours later, when the pregnant woman's condition seriously deteriorated and when a second women lost consciousness due to dehydration, an ambulance was allowed access to the house . The two women were taken to hospital after another two hours delay.

Both the houses were ransacked and sustained substantial damages to their interior during the raid. Witnesses described one of the houses as “rendered nearly uninhabitable". In the garden, the soldiers uprooted several olive trees claiming that they need to search beneath them.