One of the detained volunteers said the group had offered to leave the area but was instead put on buses by Israeli forces and taken to a police station

Brad Lander, a Democratic candidate for the US Congress, has been detained by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.

American and Israeli rights groups said he was among 90 volunteers held by Israeli authorities on Wednesday.

Lander, an ally of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, is the Democratic party’s nominee for New York’s 10th congressional district for the US House of Representatives in the November 3 midterm elections. The former New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate is a Jewish American who has criticized Israel’s war in Gaza.

Writing later on X, Lander said he had been detained along with a group of rabbis and volunteers.