Residents said at least half of the 1,500 homes have been searched. Of the 7,000 people in the village about 300 have been arrested, Mr. Awad said, adding that while most were released within days, some 25 males between the ages of about 18 and 45 remained in detention on Monday.

Mr. Awad said he did not know of any arrests or raids in villages other than Awarta. No charges have been filed.

The Palestinian Government Media Center took reporters to Awarta last week, primarily to highlight the damage wrought by the Israeli Army. Children cried and ran away in fright at the sight of strangers. Mr. Lolah, who had two sons aged 30 and 33 in detention, said the soldiers had raided his house four times and “left nothing untouched.”

According to the Islamic calendar the Itamar killings took place a year almost to the day after two 19-year-old cousins from Awarta, Muhammad Qawariq and Salah Qawariq, were shot dead by Israeli soldiers on the village lands. At the time the Israeli military said the cousins had tried to attack a soldier with a pitchfork and an ax. After an investigation the military admitted that the shooting was unnecessary, and that if the soldiers had operated in a more professional manner they could have avoided the need to open fire.

Muhammad Qawariq’s father, Faisal Mahmoud Masar Qawariq, said his house had been raided seven times since the killings at Itamar. Four of his sons were rounded up and two of them, aged 21 and 24, were still in detention.

“My son was murdered while he was working the land,” Mr. Qawariq said. “We have a lawsuit against the Israeli Army in the Israeli courts. This is why they are targeting us.”

The dingy, sparsely furnished interior of the house, with bare cement-block walls and a bare cement floor, attests to the family’s poverty. Mr. Qawariq, who has seven surviving children and is unemployed, said the soldiers broke all the closets and the family’s first, newly acquired washing machine.