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RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A local activist group in the Old City of Hebron on Thursday revealed that they have found a number of holes entering Palestinian shops closed by Israeli military order that are being used by Jewish settlers to enter and steal goods.

Ahmad Amro, a member of the emergency operations squad of Youth against Settlements, told Ma'an that they made the discovery while making the rounds on Shuhada Street and Tel al-Rumeida in central Hebron.

Amro said that members of the group found the door of a Palestinian shop in the area -- shut closed by Israeli military order since 2001 -- ajar, and upon entering the shop they found large holes in the wall that led to other shops.

He said that Israeli settlers had stolen goods from the shops and a few connected homes during their raids.

Amro said that the squad was formed to help people in the area during the ongoing winter storm and provide them with the services they need, due to the fact that Palestinian defense services cannot reach the area because it is under Israeli control.

500 Israeli settlers live in the heart of Hebron's Old City, many of whom have illegally occupied Palestinian houses and forcibly removed the original inhabitants. They are protected by thousands of Israeli forces.

Settlers and Israeli forces regularly target local Palestinians for harassment, and many have been forced from their homes as a result. Settler frequently break holes into the walls of old buildings in order to expand the settlements into them.

A 1997 agreement split Hebron into areas of Palestinian and Israeli control.

The Israeli military-controlled H2 zone includes the ancient Old City, home of the revered Ibrahimi Mosque -- also split into a synagogue referred to as the Tomb of the Patriarchs -- and the once thriving Shuhada street, now just shuttered shops fronts and closed homes.